Whispering Pages
by Sayuri-Jen
Summary: Two years have passed and a case has brought them together again. Little do they know that they are only pieces of a bent past reoccurring. With the findings of strange entries, it forms haunting questions. What really happened behind the biased reasons?
1. Chapter 1 A Letter

**Don't read beyond this or the story if you don't want any spoilers beyond the Anime.**

Extra Sum: Takes place two years later after Naru returns to Japan after finding his brother's body. Mai is in her junior year (17) and Naru's 19. (Mai's senior year because high schools in Japan have only three years.)

**Disclaimer**: I'm just a 16 year-old fangirl with too much time on her hands

Prologue

_Hey did you hear?_

_What?_

_About the girl who was killed in the library._

_Eh! Who was it?_

_You know, the one that was going out with Saito-kun._

_That poor girl. Her family had to suffer death as well._

_It's rumored that you can see her spirit still there._

_A girl was pushed down the exact same way down the stairs, and no one else had been with her._

_What?_

_It's true._

Whispering Notebook

Chapter 1: A Letter

Saturday: 6:37 AM

Reaching blindly Taniyama Mai rolled to her side, her hand patting the cold wooden floor until the buzzing alarm stopped. She drew her hand back underneath her covers for warmth. Sleeping on a futon was cold, especially with no heating systems.

With a groan she sat up and began drawing her long brown curls back into a high ponytail. She'd let it grow some the last few months, finding how long hair had suited Ayako nicely. Rubbing sleep from her eyes Mai enthusiastically reached above her head and stretched loudly. The start of a new day.

The old apartment was far from luxurious, but austere and just enough for one high school girl. The extra money Mai had been able to earn from her unique part time job at SPR hadn't gone to waste from useless items, but well kept in her account. As she folded up the futon and sheets, with one hand Mai slid open a window.

There was a light breeze that morning, one that was welcoming with the promise of another warm day. Well that's fine, Mai thought rubbing her eyes. It'll just put me in a better mood.

Quickly she threw in some toast into the toaster and began to wash and dress up for the day: a jean skirt and white button up shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror this way and that.

Beep Beep Beep

"Oh no!" It was 7:25 already, the warning bell. If she didn't hurry, she'd be late. Washing her face and applying lotion and sunscreen, Mai quickly reached for the slightly uncooked and cold toast and sped out the door. As she raced down the stairs, Mai slowed a bit and bit down on her meager breakfast.

The office was a farther distance away that she'd moved into a new apartment over a year ago, 65 meters farther to be exact. Small things like those were constantly occurring and Mai couldn't help but wonder what would happen in the future. When she'd have to end work with the Miko-priestess, American exorcist, brotherly monk, competitive medium and narcissist boss. Actually, the first four of the list had already left. Gone to live their lives and tend to personal matters.

Since the SPR group had formed and Mai had become a part-time worker there, two years had passed.

She was running late and she knew so without having to consult a watch.

Why had she decided to wear a skirt that day? With jeans or capris, it would have made the running deal a whole lot easier. Mai sighed as she bit her lip in thought. A cell phone would have come in handy at times like these, and she had had to give Ayako back the one she'd been borrowing months ago. Mai knew she didn't have enough change on her.

Man if I could just…

Then she stopped in her tracks at the sight of a familiar face. Talk about great relief.

"Michiru!" Mai called out happily to one of her closest friends at school. She waved widely in the air, a gesture that would've embarrassed anyone it was aimed at.

Michiru quickly stepped into the streets and smiled. "Mai! Going off to work?"

Mai nodded. She gasped a bit for air while fanning her face "What you up to so early on a Saturday?" .

"Oh, shopping." Then Michiru slumped with a shake of her head. "It's 8 AM, not the crack of dawn."

"I guess so." Mai eyed the bag hanging from Michiru's arm. "Sorry to ask for a favor so suddenly, but can I use your cell? I'm kind of running late…"

Michiru put a free hand inside her purse and pulled out her phone, disapproval written on her face. "You should be more responsible you know."

"Ah! Thank you!" Mai quickly grabbed and slid it open without answering to her friend's advice.

"Nani, you're just exited to see my cell."

Her friend smiled as her fingers dialed the office number from muscle memory. The phone rang twice before the other line picked up without a sound. Mai stiffened up her stance despite the fact that he couldn't see her. "Naru?"

"Mai. Where are you?"

She could practically see her boss's annoyed stance. "Ahh, well you see, funny story –"

"You're late." Listening carefully, however, Mai noticed that his voice sounded distracted, not even cross. She raised an eyebrow.

"Just to call to assure you that I'm not in any trouble. I'm just running a bit late. Anything happen?"

He didn't answer, instead: "I've had to answer two phone calls myself."

"But no one calls this early. It was just Lin-san and Madoka wasn't it? Trying to fool me…"

There was a sigh. "You've grown some nerve over the years."

Mai pretended to be amazed. "More than I had before? I don't know how you handle it."

"Thanks to Yasuhara being here 24/7."

That made her laugh and the small build up of tension disappeared like that. Mai silently smiled. Somehow after her awkward confession, things seemed to have turned out for the better between them. Naru hadn't transformed into a kind and open person, but neither was he the cold Naru before leaving Japan.

"You have 15 minutes."

"Kay." She sang. Mai slid shut the phone and slipped it back into Michiru's purse for her. "Thanks. See you, then."

Michiru nodded with a knowing look on her face. "You've sure gotten friendly with Naru-chan haven't you?"

With only a faint blush on her cheeks, Mai ran off once more. She could make to the office in 10. She waved behind her back at Michiru who walked off in the opposite direction towards a cute new coffee shop.

Yep, just another typical day.

**June 2nd – 1 month later**

Everyone around was smiling from the warmth of the ripening weeks of summer. They were all wearing tank tops and shorts and skirts. Most of the talk going around had to do with finishing the school year and going to the beach or traveling abroad.

Mai was just returning to the SPR office from the super market. The packets of tea in the office had fallen short and she had decided to run the small errand as a chance to get outside. The brunette smiled to herself as a group of young kids ran past, shouting and laughing. She loved everything about this season – the sultry summer days and skyscrapers over the heat gaze.

Once the SPR building she was returning to was in sight, Mai's face automatically fell into a pout. Everyone else was out here enjoying the great weather, and she would be stuck in a room filing papers with Yasuhara for another few hours. Stuck with the most unplayful people she knew.

But she still let out an exclamation of happiness as she was met with cool wind inside the building. "I love the hot, but it can get so stifling."

In opening the door to the lounge, she ran into a figure coming out. She bumped into his chest and quickly stepped away with a blush. "Y-Yasuhara-kun! Ah, I'm sorry."

"No, that was my bad." The young man smiled brightly. "Did you get the tea?"

Mai nodded and raised the plastic bag with a giggle. "Enough to last a few weeks I think…hope."

"Good, cause I think the boss is showing symptoms of tea withdrawal." Yasuhara straightened up his posture, slightly narrowed his eyes, and look at Mai sideways in a very Naru-like way. "He's giving death glares at everything."

She pretended to flinch. "Nope, that's the usual." Mai laughed and made her way to the door again. "Well I'd better get back. Yasuhara-kun, did you finish already?"

"Mm-mm. Actually, I have to leave early today for some boring college stuff. I must leave you for today." He meekly gave out a smile of an apology. "Next term starts in two months again so I have to prepare."

"I see. Well have an iced drink for the heat out, it's peach flavored." Reaching into the plastic bag, she handed him a soda.

"Ah thanks a ton. Well I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Later."

Great. Now that her companion was gone, she'd be alone while filing. What seemed like a week of boredom would actually be an hour at SPR. It was a good chance to be with Naru, but the young man tended to read a lot during his time in the office. If she tried to start conversations, it would only turn out to be a one-sided one. Asking questions and answering them herself. She'd tried it once, thinking that he had been listening only to be asked to 'please stop babbling.'

Walking into Naru's office Mai opened the door and then immediately groaned at the sight of her boss.

"Naru! What do you think you're wearing? You make me feel all stuffy." She waved a hand in front of her face to cool her still warm forehead. Seriously, a jacket in the summer. And a black one at that.

All he did was give his employee a glance of indifference. "You're heated up because you just came in and started yelling. We have air-conditioning you know."

"You still shouldn't be dressed like that." She pouted.

"Just get me some tea. Then restart the filing that was left unfinished from the other day. You're a few cabinets behind."

She nearly giggled, but thought against it. The look he was giving her wasn't amused. "Fine. Lin-san, tea?"

"No thank you, Taniyama-san."

As she placed the cup on Naru's desk (he gave a nod) and walked to check out possible new cases, Mai couldn't help but think that although everyone was separated now, some things didn't change after all.

...

Click on, click off. On, off, on, off. Tap, tap, tap.

When a deep cough emitted from the neighboring office, Naru immediately stopped fingering his pen and laid it on his desk with a sigh. Mai had given it to him for Christmas after the case at the church two years ago. It was sleek and black that didn't seem to run out of ink, just like Mai's daily smiles.

The consistent tapping and clicking had become unconscious activities when he was sitting alone, reading. It drove Lin nuts.

The past few months had been frustrating, because no cases worth looking into had come up. Sure there had been a few with pesky spirits, but not too dangerous or challenging. Soon it had had them realizing how dependent they had been of the medium, monk, miko and priest.

Mai's powers had begun to develop in strength and reliance, though. She was becoming more like an 'animal' everyday. It was funny what effect that saying had on her. Bou-san had quite often laughed. Naru couldn't understand why thoughts of the past made him a bit lonely.

He took a sip of tea from the cup Mai had left behind. She was currently still piling papers and alphabetizing/recycling them. Naru looked back down to the stacks on his own desk. On one of them was the house address of Madoka. He reached for it first, almost even hoping that she had written a plea for him to take on a case. Instead to his annoyance, she had written a letter insisting that he close the office for a while and take a break. He threw that one in the bottom drawer, along with the other useless letters. He didn't have time to take breaks nor did he need one.

The other stack was a typed letter. It had been printed out on an expensive type of looking paper with a creamy color. At the top, it read:

Suzuki Academic

Naru reached over to pick it up and began reading. He knew the school to be a co-ed school for students with low budgets, but something about the name had rung a bell.

"Mai."

He heard the shuffling of papers. His assistant's voice came out muffled through the door. "Did you call Naru?"

"After this year, what school did you say you'd start attending?"

"It's a few miles out of the city called Suzuki Academic, why do you need to know?"

Ah, that was right, she'd mentioned it before. It peeked his interest the slightest bit. The young man sipped his tea again and read on.

"Ne, answer me!"

He would look into it.

...

"Everyone! Don't forget that finals are in three week. Highest scores from any grade level will get to organize the end of the year festival so do your best and don't get lazy!"

"Yes, sensei." The class chorused in unison.

"Sensei? What will be the theme for the festival?"

"May we divide into specialized stands?"

As the discussion continued, Mai inwardly sighed. Sounded like it would be more work to her rather than a privilege. Michiru and Keiko, sitting on either side of her, leaned in. "Hey," Michiru whispered, "How about we meet in the classroom after school today and tell ghost stories like we used to? It'll probably be our last chance as seniors."

Keiko brightened up immediately. "But why not in the A/V like before?"

"The old one is going to be in use." Mai answered. "This room will work fine. I'm exited!"

The three giggled and felt like freshmen girls again.

"Hey you three!"

"Yes!" All three sat up in their seats with nervous smiles.

Their teacher scowled while shaking a ruler. "You may be seniors, but give the final exams your best! Study if you have time to mutter nonsense."

Without having to catch each other's eyes, the three girls nodded without shame. "We'll study as soon as we arrive home."

It turned out that because of Mai's work schedule, Keiko's piano lessons and Michiru's dance class and homework, the only day available would be the upcoming Friday. A whole four days to wait. When Mai had thought that the day couldn't get any worse, it started to rain. It was a sudden summer shower where it would randomly start, and eventually stop. But this one continued on until Mai had reached the office, drenching every part of her where she hadn't been able to shield with her school backpack. Sighing, she walked in while shaking her hands and clothes. Naru wouldn't like her having the water droplets wetting the floor, but she really didn't care at the moment.

All Mai wanted was some hot tea. Walking into the lounge area, cheerful sunlight spilled in from a nearby window. It taunted her and acted as if it hadn't ever rained at all. Mai set down her dripping backpack at her feet and reached up to take out a mug.

"Ugh." Talk about bad timing.

"Mai."

She stopped in the middle of pouring the hot water and turned to Naru's office door. She wiped her water-slick hair from her eyes. The CEO sign was the only thing facing her. She sighed with relief; her boss was still inside.

"What?"

"I need you to make a few phone calls."

Mai poked her head into his office with a blank face. It was he who usually made the calls. She didn't touch the desk phone or computer. "Are you that busy?"

"No. Just thought that you'd like to do it."

He was thinking what? Mai took a sip of her green tea and flinched when the numbing warmth burnt her tongue. "To who?"

"A few friends."

"…Eh?" Mai scratched her cheeks a bit with confusion. Sticking her head into his office, the young girl glanced at her boss sitting at his desk. Then seeing the look in Naru's eyes, she smiled and sipped her tea. "Ahh…Really? I've been wondering when this would happen."

Naru lightly scoffed as he lifted up his black folder and a creamy colored packet. "Don't talk as if you knew all along."

However, Mai squealed with delight, and then painfully let out a shout when the hot tea spilled onto her hands. "Hot! Hot…ow…"

"..." Naru didn't even look up.

**June 7th**

"Finally it's the day. School days couldn't have possibly been slower."

"They will be on final's week. Did you hear that they'll be full school days too?"

"Mai? Must you mention this? Just concentrate on opening the lock."

The girl smiled and turned back to the window. "Yeah, Yeah." Mai jiggled this way and that, pulling on the window every few jostles.

Michiru sighed and put her hands on her hips, watching her two friends so into their sneak in plan.

Wearily she darted her eyes over her shoulder and back at Mai. "We're getting into so much trouble if we're caught, being seniors and the school's representative, you know, which would be completely ridiculous because Sosuke-san will let us in if we ask him."

Keiko shook her head and looked back. "Ah Michiru, but it's no fun if we ask nicely and are let in. We used to do it all the time when we were freshman so don't act like an honors student now."

Michiru hung her head. "But I am."

"Done!" with a wide grin, Mai lifted the window as wide as it would and climbed into the hallway. "Don't fret, we won't get caught. No one but Sosuke-san is here this late."

Her two friends crept in after her, stealthily making it down the hallway and sliding open their classroom door. Mai slightly hesitated but walked in and ran to her seat, the second column from the windows and next to last seat from the back. Michiru did likewise as Keiko slowed in her steps. "It's so creepy here at night. The desks all look lonely. It's so silent and the moonlight makes haunting shadows in the room."

Mai and Michiru hunched together with an exited squeal. "So you'll be going first?"

Keiko grinned and turned on her flashlight.

**Three Days Ago**

"Rin, Pyou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!"

The kuji of the 9-word warding spell echoed across the chilled hallway.

Rapping noises became louder as the number of flailing spirits was increased. The air was without a doubt growing colder. A woman and man were slammed against a wall with merciless force.

"Ahh! Stop it, you're making it worse!"

"Well I'm trying, right?" Ayako yelled back. Seriously, the monk knew about her ways of using the tree's spirits and such, he could be more considerate. She couldn't do anything here now, except distract the spirits long enough for Bou-san to complete his exorcism.

"It's you're turn!" She yelled out as she steadied herself with both hands.

Takigawa Houshou smiled, despite the growing pain in his back. "Here goes!"

Ayako watched as the monk strongly chanted his spell.

The same time Bou-san was quite efficiently getting rid of the spirits, Ayako felt the buzzing of her cell phone. Shrugging, she picked up. "Hello?"

"Not at a time like this!' Bou-san rolled his eyes. Even though the spirits were only small annoyances he could easily be rid of any day, they still needed to be exorcised.

"You're handling it fine!"

A scowl of frustration scribbled across the monk's face. "Nau-maku-san-manda, Bazara-dan-kan!"

The temperature warmed up and soon the misty sights of spirits decreased. Something about the building had been attracting weaker spirits there. It would be demolished soon, but now without any hauntings.

By the time things had settled down, Ayako ran up to him and patted him hard on the back several times. "Nice job!" she exclaimed in English with a smile. "What took so long? Losing your powers with old age?"

The monk straightened his white, button-up shirt with a sharp tug. Patches of brown were dotted in random areas; it'd been the wrong color to wear that day. "Oy, what are you so happy about? It's unnerving to see you like that." He was surprised that he didn't get hit.

Instead, the miko raised her pink phone. "Guess who I just got a call from?"

He looked at her upbeat countenance and noticed that she hadn't been this happy in…a long time since they'd become partners and parted with SPR. Could it be…The displeasure suddenly wiped off his face and was replaced with eagerness.

"Who?"

Ayako's smile became larger and answered in a way that confirmed the man's intuition. "Three guesses as to who, and the first two don't count."

**Back with the Girls Four Days After**

"You know how girls stay out late studying at cram schools and such, not having the chance to head back before it gets dark. Well one young woman was waiting for the elevators in the hallways to open so that she could get some sleep for class early next morning. The lights were dim, and pitch black if she walked down the halls far enough. It was dead quiet, past midnight.

The elevators in that building were newly designed - there was a small, narrow glass-paned section on the doors so that even when they closed, anyone could look out.

When the doors opened, she entered the elevator. It shortly stopped at the 5th story, where a young man - in his late twenties - entered and stood beside her.

"What level are you going up to?" He asked kindly.

"The 13th story sir." She replied.

He smiled back. "Oh, I get off at the 12th."

And so they rode up together. 6…7…8…9…10…11…12.

The elevator lightly dinged, and the doors opened. "Goodbye." He said to her.

When the doors shut, she was still able to see the man through the small window. He stood there a moment with no movement. And, he suddenly turned back with a bone-chilling grin spreading across his face. She gasped, shaking. Right before the elevator started to rise again, he whipped out a knife and started sprinting to the 13th floor."

Mai uttered the last sentence with a rush in her voice, building up the excitement and fear. The two girls shivered and let out short squeals.

"Geez, that was creepy Mai!" Michiru whined. Mai grinned with pleasure. Their ritual of story telling had all come back as vivid as it had been two years ago. After a silence in the dark, the three girls held their flashlights out in front of them so that the separate lights illuminated their faces with an eerie glow.

It was time for the countdown.

"One." Click.

"Two." Click.

A short breath.

"Three." Click.

Shhhhhhhhhhh

The girls screamed as if a ghost had materialized in front of them. They huddled together from reflex and sudden overcoming fear. Mai had to force her eyes open, but saw nor felt any other presence in the room.

"Wait a second…Keiko I can't breathe!" The arms around her loosened, but stubbornly held on.

As the sound continued on, she realized that it was the sound of pages flapping around from the wind like fluttering wings of a bird. It stopped and Mai realized that she hadn't noticed the book there before.

Michiru sighed and drew back from the huddle. Reaching over she shut the transparent pages while drawing it into her arms. "Sorry, this is mine."

As if from the unexpected temporary start it had given her, Mai was drawn to the book. There was a simple binding with no title on the front, all that decorated the cover was a deep green coloring. It was easy to grasp and full in the number of pages, thick and creamy white. Mai suddenly wanted to read it and absorb whatever writing was in it.

"Michiru, can I please see that?"

Her friend passed it on.

It was heavier than Mai had thought it would be. Everything about it was smooth and aged. But upon opening the book, she saw no words but blank, unused and seemingly new pages. She looked up for an explanation.

"Found it a week ago at an old library. I wanted to use it as a notebook or something, but I don't want to now because it has no lines. I'd mess up the nice pages." Michiru thought a while before pointing towards her friend with a tilt of a chin. "Want it Mai?"

She nodded slowly at the question. "Arigatou." She wouldn't use it for the time being, Mai never had been a writer, but she would keep it.

The girls left towards midnight after another short round of tales. They snuck out the same way they'd entered, separating at the entrance of the school in three different directions. A light drizzle began to fall, intertwined with fog, and washed away any evidence of the secret outing left behind in the earth.

**11:50 PM -Same Night**

Naru lightly put the phone back in its receiver and sat back in his seat, hands intertwining under his chin. His brows were lightly brought together with thoughts of the new case he'd accepted and made official on the answering machine minutes ago. It would be worth looking into and after speaking to the principal Kouji Hatori, he'd been further convinced that this would not be the simple ghost to figure out and exorcise.

He sat up with his black jacket hanging from the crook of his left arm. It was growing late and he'd have to return early the next day to start preparations. Lin had gone home half an hour ago with reluctance at Naru's suggestion.

Naru shut off the office lights and lightly shut the door behind him, and heard the start of a small night rainfall. Walking home, he stopped a moment to look up and breath in the cold night air.

The letter remained overnight on his desk, lit by the moonlight which contrasted the black letters from the glowing silver page.

Suzuki Academic

To Shibuya Kazuya head of the Shibuya Physic Research,

I am the principal of Suzuki Academy where a series of certain questionable incidents have occurred the past several months. None of them seemed neither connected in any way nor focused at a particular student, but instead seem to grow worse as the weeks pass. There have been reported sightings of strange shadows and malfunctioning of equipment, lights and locks. A student has even claimed to be pushed instead of accidently fallen down the library stairs, a location at which a death had occured.

A number of deaths occurred here actually, all somewhat connected around a student who'd been the one to take her life on the staircase a couple years ago. Her name was Neya Sachiko.

In any other situation, these complaints would have been ignored or labeled as imaginations, but the reportings have been too numerous and I am starting to suspect something as well. It would be best if this was all settled before a new term begins in August. Please give my office a call if you are to accept the case.

Sincerely,

Kouji Hatori


	2. Chapter 2 A Tune

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

: Whispering Pages :  
Chapter 2: A Tune

**June 9th**

As John Brown, a 22-year-old priest and part-time exorcist, walked down the lanes of the park, he couldn't help but admire the energy of the summer day. There were the constant sounds of laughter and footsteps of running around children. What wasn't to like about summer?

John quickened his pace, awkwardly shifting the two rather large milk cartons in his arms. He wanted to reach his new apartment in time so that they wouldn't spoil. He slowed back down a bit when the glimmering buildings came to sight.

He had left Japan half a year ago to return to Australia to visit old friends and improve his exorcising abilities. Disappointingly, he had found out that there were no cases to take compared to the ones that had come up in Japan. With the SPR.

Their farewell had been a happy one, though he had felt much reluctance in leaving. Even being back in Japan for a month, John hadn't been given a chance to go back to the office. After hearing that everyone had went on their own ways, he'd felt slightly comforted. He looked up towards the sun and couldn't help but wonder what everyone was up to.

Tongue stuck out in concentration, he balanced his two milk cartons in one arm while quickly pulling open the lobby door with the other. He walked in with a sigh. At least they had air-conditioning in the elevators. When the doors opened, a young girl shy of 20 walked out. Her bright summer dress brought a smile to the priest's face.

"Good afternoon Kaori-chan."

"Good afternoon!" The young girl sang. She crossed one foot over the other in a mock bow.

He watched as the door re-closed and he sighed without much care. He'd wait. Pushing the fourth story button with a shaking elbow, John re-faced his neighbor.

She eyed the milk cartons. "Finally went grocery shopping?"

"Yes." He raised a shoulder with a smile. "I've finally unpacked and settled in."

"That's good to hear."

"Going somewhere special?" He asked with some idea.

After a moment, Kaori blushed and twiddled the hem of her short sleeves. "Actually a date." Winking at him, she grinned. "Guess who?"

John thought. Somehow, he'd become such a gossip that the older women would often meet up with him, just to compliment his kind young manners. A quiet, young man's face came to mind. "I'm thinking Yume Kenji?"

Another bright blush spread across her face. "Ah! How'd you know so easily?"

"It's sort of obvious he like you, isn't it?"

"I-is that so?" Despite her actions, she sounded happy. "Well, I don't want to be late. See you, John-san."

He smiled and waved as best he could. "Have fun."

With a light ding, the elevator reopened and John quickly rushed in.

"Ah!" Kaori turned back around, her brown hair swirling around her shoulders. "John-san! This letter was for you."

She was able to slip it through the closing doors in time. He couldn't ask how she'd gotten it. John unexpectedly caught it with his mouth and sheepishly grinned.

"Thank you." He mumbled incoherently. However he saw the girl smile and walk off, the sound of the pads of her sandals fading away. His sight lowered to the paper in his mouth. Well, whom could it be from? There weren't many people who yet knew of his new address.

The droplets from the milk were starting to numb his arms and grow heavy. As soon as he was able to fish out his apartment key and open the door, John neatly stacked the cartons in the refrigerator and grabbed the letter from his mouth. He looked at for a moment before turning it over to see the return address.

In bright, gold letters at the top right hand corner read: SPR.

"Ehh?" John dropped the letter with a surprised look before catching it in midair again.

He tore open the envelope and began to read with eagerness.

...

_So if you'__r__e interested, please call me back at –__beeeep._ She wasn't.

_Masako! I just love – beeeeep_

Who did that man think he was? Calling her by her first name without introduction.

The young medium sighed with annoyance. Again, her calling machine was filled with unwanted ranting of fans, discourses from critics and disbeliveers, and reminders for new programs to consider. Hara Masako, with a slender finger, rapidly deleted them one after another.

Delete, delete, delete. 26 more to go.

Her appearances on numerous shows within the past couple of years had grown enormously and with quite popularity. Days were so busy that she was now experiencing full-week schedules. It wasn't that she _didn'__t_ enjoy being a celebrity, but that it had taken her away from the life she had been living three years ago.

No longer was she joining in on the cases with the SPR group. It had been months since she'd seen her past friends. Since she'd seen Naru's handsome face.

_Delete, delete_. Oh, a call from her father, she'd have to keep that in mind._ Delete, delete._

Now treating it as a boring chore, Masako lazily pushed the button in a repetitive manner. Sometimes she shoved down on the button harder than necessary

Soon the red number blinked down to 1 and next to it, the familiar letters SPR. Two days ago.

Gasping, she stopped her finger midair and shifted it to the play button. _Could it really be…_

Mai's voice began talking in the familiar chatty way, and although Masako had been disappointed that it wasn't Naru, she couldn't help but fondly smile. Typical cheerful Mai.

_Masako how are you doing? Naru'__s__ finally found a case where we might need everyone'__s__ help again. I know you must be busy, but if it__'s__ possible…_

Masako was lost in thought after that. She had a debut at a new Physic television show next Monday. Going back would mean canceling a number of appointments that would be impossible to re-schedule. She re-listened to Mai's message, while absent-mindedly stroking the 'play' button.

_Naru'__s__ thinking that you'__ll__ be very helpful with the investigation. We both miss you… _

Well, that settled that. She picked up her phone and dialed, all the while holding her breath.

**June 11th**

Slowing to a halt, the three employees of SPR stepped out of the van and stood at the entrance of Suzuki Academic.

It was larger than Mai had imagined or seen in the pamphlets at her high school. Along the edges of the campus and pathways were flowering trees in full bloom lined with benches within respectable distance of one another. Beyond the central building was a spreading and spacious campus with the library, dormitory and gym as well as separated buildings for classes. No one was in sight upon the grounds, being either on vacation or secluded in the library.

Naru gave the place a glance over and nodded. They'd go to see the area sectioned off for their base before unloading their equipment.

The three walked down the paved path to the largest building up ahead. They climbed up similarly paved stairs to find themselves at a row of welcoming in doors. Naru walked straight through into the building of corridors and hallways and stairs. Winding up were several upper stories numbered 1-4.

Their room for the base: 213b.

It was a short walk up but their room ended up being at the end of the hallway to the right. Easily seen from the windows facing the doors was the rest of the campus stretching out. Each building was clearly seen if not in some view. There was another door on the left of the square room, which led down to the campus with paths leading to the library and dormitories.

"This is great." Mai said, hands on hips. "Not too spacious, but the shelves will fit perfectly there and a desk's been already set up."

Lin found himself smile lightly at Mai's acts of precision.

"Fine. Lin, let's drive the van around so that we can carry the equipment up from those back stairs. Mai, help set up as we bring in the things." Naru turned to leave.

Both assistants nodded in understanding.

...

"Yo, Mai!"

"Mai!"

Without answering their cheerful greetings, the young girl rushed forward with glimmering tears and embraced the monk and miko in a tight embrace. "It's so good to see you!" She murmured, her voice caught with emotion.

Bou-san lightly patted Mai's head and hugged back. "Your hair's longer, it looks nice."

Like an older sister, Ayako wiped away the tears from Mai's cheeks and released herself. "It's so good to see you again."

Raising a waving hand, Bou-san smiled at the old-time boss. "Hey, Naru-chan."

"I believe that the two of you have been well together?"

Mai held back a laugh at this. She'd almost forgotten that the two of them had left to work as partners a long time ago. How'd that been going?

Ayako put her hands on her hips with a dismissive wave of her hands. "You make it sound like we're a couple or something like that."

Judging by the young man's look, that was what he'd meant, but let it off. He raised his head, dark eyes shining under the bright light of the room and smiled a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well thank you for showing up on such short notice. I'm sure you must have had other plans."

"Nah. Actually, we came to see Mai." The monk patted the girl's back with a smile as he spoke. "Been faring well?"

"Yep! With Yasuhara-kun at work with me, it's quite nice." Then Mai suddenly felt a breeze of Naru's annoyance and she sweat dropped. It seemed that the get-together had lasted a bit too long for his patience. All the time, Lin-san had been typing away as if oblivious to the scene behind him, only slightly nodding when Ayako greeted him.

"Hmph. Naru-chan's no fun." Bou-san exclaimed, looking towards Mai for backup.

Already forming a frown, Naru ignored the monk's words. "You two should get rest from your travel. Mai will show you to your rooms down this hall."

"Indeed I will," Mai said with a nod. She took a heavy bag from Ayako's arms and made her way to the door. In the act of reaching for the knob, Mai turned around and saw everyone standing together, looking towards her. "It's like we're a family again." She cheerfully concluded. Everyone, even Naru, had to admit that it was exactly as Mai had said.

**Later that night**

It was a quiet night upon the campus grounds.

Naru and Lin were still typing and gathering background information at the base. Ayako and Bou-san were sleeping in their rooms, tired from their long drive back to Mai and Naru's town. A few interviews would be held the next day, whether or not Masako or John would arrive on time – if they were to come by at all. This time, their case had a dead line given to them.

Fiddling with the spare keys to the library, Mai made her way down the path, the notebook given to her by Michiru next to the keys in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Its beam of yellow light was like a ray cutting into the falling darkness. The nights were coming later due to longer days. It was past 8 PM and was still somewhat bright out. Everything had dark shades of orange and red on them. The library was towering in a way that flaunted the amount of knowledge it held. Many windows for a good view while reading were around all four walls of the library, as well as curtained off boxes for a quiet and private read. She couldn't wait to enter the building and take a look around. So much awaited there.

_Jiggle the key_, Mai reminded herself. She did so and the door came unlocked easily under her pull. Inside the old building were the smell of worn books, ancient carpets and the remains of pencil shavings. Quietly she entered, pocketing the keys. For reasons she couldn't understand, Mai didn't want to be noticed or found. As if on a secret mission she weaved through row after row of shelves - filled thickly with encyclopedias, novels, reference books, and classics. Time flew by and she lost track of her steps.

Then in the midst of her marvel and discovery, Mai felt the weight of the notebook in her arms as if it were calling for her attention as well. She waved the flashlight in front of her; the beam landing beside a particularly full bookshelf was a long and empty moonlit table beside a window. The curtains had been drawn and Mai wondered if the last person there had forgotten to close them. Perfect.

She sat right beside the opening of the window, close to the wall, and stood up the flashlight upright while scooting the chair more comfortably around.

The scrapping of wood against the carpet made her listen and made her realize how loud the sound was. It was so quiet, it reminded her that no one besides her and the librarian was here that night. Where she was sitting, no lights above were on above, but the moonlight was enough. She checked her watch.

_9:32 already huh? _

Nightfall had changed the scenery. The moon transformed everything into different shades of blue and silver.

Mai put an elbow upon the table and looked down absent-mindedly at the notebook in front of her. After a moment of silence she shivered. She should have brought someone with her after all! Being alone at night in the library was starting to spook her out. Mai looked at the notebook again and it stared back in silence. After a moment, she fingered the edge of the covers, and with a wide gesture flipped it open. Just as before, nothing. Sighing, Mai closed it and put her head down in her arms, tapping her feet against the floor so that it wouldn't be so silent.

What was she doing alone like this? She should at least have Lin-san take a look at it to search out any old spells or spirits attached to the notebook.

The silence was louder and thicker than ever. Not even the wind was blowing nor a leaf being scuttled along the pavement below in darkness. She scuffed the toe of her shoe, the lightest touch, to take a moment to remember to breathe.

Then, it was no longer silent.

A light melody flew through the air, threads of an eerie tune that sounded so weak that Mai thought it could break apart with her own voice if she were to interrupt it. It was no instrument, yet there were the strings of a lone violin and the echoing keys of a piano. And a voice that was all alone in an empty room humming, tricking the mind to bring out precious memories that were never there before. Mai knew she'd heard the melody somewhere before…But the possible answers fled her mind.

Then slowly, slowly and steadily, a rustle of cloth and feet caught Mai's attention. A sharp tap sounded and the window slid open and closed. She caught her breath, refused to look up from her arms. Cautiously, she whispered. "Who's there?"

Nothing, no answer.

Then again, with more assertiveness, "Who's there?"

A whisper.

Mai clenched her fists from shaking and raised her eyes to her right, away from the window and into the darkness, and right into the pair of another.

Two moonstones of illuminated brightness shone back at her, white and hollow yet full of misty liveliness and emotions. They blinked with no shyness and looked at Mai. _They'__r__e like fish eyes_, Mai realized with a chill down her back. _The eyes of fish that haven'__t__ seen daylight in a long time. _

Mai couldn't look away. The girl held her gaze, attractive and irresistible. She wore a thin summer skirt that whispered and danced. A long-sleeved blouse with a withered blue tie loosened around her neck. The ribbon danced around her neck, and tightened like a noose. Mai realized that it was a school uniform, but one that had long been renewed. _A student…_

And suddenly she couldn't take anymore and did what was appropriate to the situation. Mai screamed, and pressed herself against the window. The girl beside her only stared, her figure unchanging, not caring whether or not her breath was coming in and out, out or in.

Then Mai was falling, _falling_… And she woke with a start. For a moment, all that she could see was darkness.

"…What?"

Mai was covered in cold sweat. Her arms were hot with a flush that had no particular source and there she found herself sitting, amid the dark forlornness. She frowned and wrapped herself in fear. The two bright eyes had clearly embedded themselves into her memory.

Her voice…

Mai hadn't heard the girl speak, yet she remembered a voice. A whisper of a sigh that had known all in the world, a sad and hurt one mixed with fury. A voice that turned over the world and looked at it, one that murmured secrets. Then it was gone and the library darkened and the voice was no more. Mai willed her breathing to slow down.

Glancing at her watch, Mai was surprised to see that time had flown by.

_10:47_

_I'd better get back to the base or else…_Well, she didn't think they'd worry too much. She got up quickly from her seat, biting her lip unawares. It'd been a dream. This time a meaningless nightmare that had formed from her nervous mind. Scooping up the notebook in her arms and clicking on the flashlight to brighten the area, she made her way as far away from the table and as quickly towards the entrance as possible. In the short time of panicked rush, Mai failed to see that the first few pages of the notebook were no longer blank.

...

Saito Michiko was getting ready to close the library and with her keys and jacket in hand, she shut the desk drawers and stood with a finishing glance. Nothing else would be needed to be done and already nearing 11 PM she could go home. Her hands reached out to turn off the lights.

"Um… excuse me?"

Michiko's hand slightly jumped at the voice of a young girl. She looked up into frightened eyes and a frown. The girl spoke again. "I must have lost track of time. I'll be leaving the library with you now um…" She gave a quick glance to her name-tag. "Saito-san."

The librarian nodded an understanding and flicked off the lights so that the library became a completely dark, hollow building.

Before making her way around her desk, Michiko eyed the green book held in the arms of the girl. She saw the young girl notice and smile with realization. "Ah, this isn't the library's, just one of my own notebooks for…for taking notes in."

Something didn't sit well with her, the slight tremor in the girl's voice that Michiko detected. However she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine. You came just in time, I was about to leave."

They walked out silently together. No words were exchanged between them, but it was somewhat of a comforting silence. The young girl seemed happy enough with the fact that she wasn't alone. Michiko decided that it would be too nosy to ask if something was wrong.

The two of them had reached the pathway at the entrance of the library. One way led Mai back to the base, and the other to Michiko's parked car. Waving at one another, they separated. Mai broke out into a light run, her flashlight held out all the while and keys jangling at her side.

Before she could start down the path again, Michiko was startled to see the lights of the library on at the eastern corner. It was a dull, flickering yellow. She sighed when she saw that curtains were also opened and not drawn together. She'd have to call someone to do something about that malfunctioning light…

She felt frozen over when she saw the curtains move gently as if from a breeze. Was someone still there? Should she go back to make sure that no one had been locked up inside? She squinted but couldn't see the silhouette of anyone. No, the library had been closed this day and Michiko had been sure only the other girl had been inside. Laughing at herself, Michiko rubbed the back of her neck. Letting that girl get to her like this, honestly she was all grown up and didn't believe in ghosts and nonsense –

The lights turned off.

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter 3 Stories of Different Kinds

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

!Whispering Pages!  
Chapter 3: Stories of Different Kinds

**June 12th**

As the laptops were passed along in company with the cords and video cameras, Ayako took a hold of her gear with a light grunt. "Still using such expensive toys?"

"Have they ever failed to help us out on a case?" Naru questioned flatly. His fingers rapidly typed upon the keyboard of his own laptop, one hand pressing a headphone against his ear. With satisfaction he snapped the lid shut.

Ayako shrugged with a smile. "I'm not complaining."

Naru returned his attention to the rest of the group. "Take this equipment and attach it to an inlet at your separate stations. Place the cameras so that Lin and I can view as much of the room it's placed in as possible." He pointed with a finger. "The webcams at the top of the laptops will allow us to see and speak with each other. Keep it on at all times."

They nodded with seriousness. Naru had assigned Mai, Ayako, Bou-san and himself to separate workstations over the campus where the strange occurrences had taken place. Ayako and Bou-san were stationed near the dormitories. They would be staying at the lobby beneath the rooms of the dorm, but down different halls only minutes away from each other.

Naru and Mai were to go to the library, but Mai had hardly enough time to rejoice for being paired up with the young man. Because the library was two stories high and fairly large, they would have to spread out and stay apart. It was a risk that everyone had been willing to make.

With a nod, Naru stood to his feet. Motioning slightly with his face towards the door, he spoke. "Let's go."

...

Groaning with effort, Mai reached out as far as she could with one last, great thrust. As if recognizing her true efforts, the plug finally hit its mark and entered into the inlet – the one behind a shelf and the only inlet near the area she'd been positioned.

Standing to her feet, Mai rubbed the back of her shoulder and sighed. She'd just gotten a sore back from trying to plug in the stupid laptop.

But after that, setting everything else up was easy, being the one who usually put everything together and all. With a simple tap of her finger, Mai turned on the webcam and the images of Lin-san, Naru, Bou-san and Ayako all appeared in small boxes atop of each other. The images were a bit slow to the sounds, but it was clear and loud.

"Mai, everything go as planned?" Naru's static face asked, his eyes elsewhere.

She nodded. Then noticing that he was occupied, added. "Yep." He gave her a nod and continued with his own work.

Now she'd have to wait and record data that came through or about anything she found. In a short time, the others had turned away from their laptops and had separated into their different activities. The left on screens showed empty seats and the back of a typing and listening Lin. Mai leaned back in her seat and looked down at the papers, sitting neatly in a pile, waiting to be read.

Time crawled by. She wished she were back at the base. _I don'__t__ want to have a dream like that time…_

_Then slowly, slowly and steadily, a rustle of cloth and feet caught Mai'__s__ attention. A sharp tap sounded and the window slid open and closed. _

Then just with that remembrance, the sight of glowing, forlorn eyes came back to her memories with a jolt. Mai shuddered involuntarily as if a cold wind had passed by. She could feel her fingers clench and release, tap nervously against the crook of her arm.

"Well, nothing going on here." Mai thought out loud. "Naru is in the area where the accidents occurred so I'm not really expecting anything to happen."

Indeed, Naru had put himself at the top of the staircase on the second story. A student (a thrid-year female) had been pushed down the stairs, breaking her ankle and getting a mild concussion. That part of the library had been where the lights would go on and off, where the books would fall from perfectly aligned shelves and positions.

Where a death had occurred.

The place where Mai had seen the girl.

Thinking back now, it'd been more than a normal dream. Mai realized this, but she didn't know what to make of it. So, she'd seen the figure of a girl from possibly years ago. Could she have been the one that had committed suicide? The one that the case was evolved around? Resting her forehead on her folded up hands, Mai closed her eyes. Then raising a pen from it's resting position, Mai put it to paper and wrote at the top in small neat letters:

_Day 1: Set up at my station. Temperatures are fairly normal – feels like it's getting colder though. No strange occurrences in the past couple of hours nor news from anyone else._

Mai sighed dejectedly after re-reading her entry. What was this, her diary? It was nothing any of the others wouldn't know or come in handy to the case. To make herself feel better, Mai added on:

_No other recent sightings of the girl…_

She set down her writing utensil. But while raising her hand, the pen slipped from the tips of her fingers and rolled off of the table, hitting the wood and floor with loud knocks. Mai gasped at the sudden movement she had caused and then sighed with annoyance. Fine, she'd just use something else. She re-read her short documentation.

But there was a sound shortly after she finished. Small scraping sounds once, twice, leading to a unsettling silence. Mai let out a small breath. What was with her and being surrounded by spooky noises? The first thing that came to mind was the possibility of rodents in the building. But that didn't seem likely, the library was too decent a place to be _that_ unkempt.

Then there was a light drumming. It was such a soft sound that she would have missed it if she hadn't been so tense and alert. It stopped with a short tap. Something against wood. It was close to her leg.

Mai, shaking lightly, lowered her eyes down to the ground. At the leg of the table nearest to her right was the pen she had dropped earlier.

It…

**It had rolled back.**

Someone else was in the library. Mai was half bent over, her hand merely inches over the pen. She was in a conflict with herself. Pick it up, or leave it? It couldn't be Naru. He could have just checked up on her over the webcam, and was true for the others. There was someone else behind the shelves.

"Who's there!"

A moment later she felt ridiculous. What was she so nervous about? It could might have well been another student studying or the librarian. Mai calmed down a bit and shook her head. "Who is it?" she called out with more composure.

Then as if answering her, there was the shuffle of feet and a face appeared from behind the shelves.

A boy? The lights were dim in this area of the library due to the malfunctioning problems. But she could see that he couldn't be any older than Naru, possibly 20. He was wearing slightly bagged jeans and a white button up shirt. His long hair resembled Takigawa's, but it was as dark as night. His eyes…Mai couldn't see them clearly.

He was looking at her with a frown.

Mai raised a hand to her chest, but let out a nervous grin. "Hello. Are you perhaps a student here?" She asked politely.

"What are you doing here?" His face was dead serious and the look only intensified at the sound of her voice. It was a different look from Naru's. A solemn look twisted to maker her feel like she was in danger.

"Well..." Mai pointed to herself. "I'm here on a case appointed by your principal. We're from the office SPR and there are more of us stationed around the campus. My boss is up on the second story and…did I interrupt your studies?" Mai shut her mouth when she realized that she was rambling.

"What are you doing here?" He repeated.

Mai was surprised by the demand in his voice. Hadn't she made it somewhat clear? "I could ask you the same thing." Was he really dangerous? Mai eyed the laptop and casually placed her fingers towards the keyboards. "Who are you?"

He just looked at her blankly. His temper had gone, but still seemed cautious. "You shouldn't be here."

Mai frowned. "What?"

"Just leave." His voice was quiet, yet strong.

Her eyes grew wide. He was four feet away, when had he taken any steps towards her? Mai eyed the laptop beside her and braced herself. "We're here on a case." Mai said again, slowly this time and with much patience. "And I don't think that this library belongs to you." She wanted to smack him on the side of his head. Instead she smiled widely at him.

His composed demeanor completely evaporated. As if trying to disguise his sudden surprise, the boy - rather young man - raised his voice with a scowl. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Warned me?" She looked rather curiously at him. "Of what?"

"You're not very bright, are you?"

She nearly stuttered. "What did you say?" _He has the same personality as Naru! _Not a very good first impression.

He was definitely looking down on her. With a frown Mai put her hands on her hips. _We've only just met and he's saying such blunt things_. While she was in thought, the man had turned his back on her and started to walk off.

"Wait." Mai called out in a quiet voice. "What's your name?"

It seemed as if he wasn't going answer. But before blending back into the shadows of the shelves behind him, he replied.

"Shouji." He was gone and once again, Mai was alone.

...

"Naru!"

Mai clicked again on the red button at the top left corner of his screen. Why wasn't he answering? "Na-ru! Where are you?"

"Calm down will you. What is it? Did something happen?" She watched as Naru's face appeared on his screen. The annoyance in his voice was apparent, but she ignored it and took a breath.

"Hey, you have the keys to the library and only unlocked one door when we entered and re-locked it from the inside right?" Bou-san and Ayako had the master keys as well, so that wouldn't have been a problem.

"Ah."

"Then no one else could have gotten in right?" Mai leaned in a bit. Finally she blurted out, "Because earlier there was a man, and now I think he's gone."

She could see that she'd finally gotten her boss's attention, but didn't know why. Naru was looking straight back at her now. "A man? When?"

" A few minutes ago. He told me that I should leave, that I shouldn't be here." Was the uneasiness apparent in her voice? She thought for sure that her voice was shaking. Her eyes widened slightly. "Did you perhaps see him too?"

"No."

They were both quiet for a moment.

"Mai."

"Yeah?"

"Did he tell you his name?"

Oh! How could she have forgotten to tell Naru that? "It was Shouji. He didn't tell me his surname. Then he just walked away."

"Is that so?"

"Mm." Mai confirmed. She didn't find Naru's tone very comforting. "What's wrong?" She asked with a tilt of her head. Unfortunately, she didn't get much of a reply.

"Nothing really." Naru glanced down and fingered through some pile of papers. "Listen, don't worry about it. Meet me at the base of the staircase in 10 minutes and leave your equipment. The interviews will be starting soon. Before you come, contact Bou-san and Matsuzaki-san for a reminder."

_I guess that means that John and Masako haven'__t__ arrived yet._

"Okay." Mai felt somewhat relieved that she'd be back together with everyone again. "See you soon."

As soon as Naru was out of sight again, a chill ran down her back. Something had bothered Naru; she'd known him long enough to notice that something was up. The girl was lost in a whirl of thought. Had the strange look on Naru's face come after hearing her nervousness? Or after learning the name?

Then it hit her.

There was no doubt about it. She'd seen a ghost.

...

"Saito Michiko. Nice to meet you."

Naru nodded politely to the woman's introduction - though a bit stoic - and took a deliberate sip of tea. After a moment, Michiko did the same, but did not release herself from the tension that kept her body stiff and upright.

The middle-aged librarian brushed back a strand of long brown hair, her eyes darting from the young man across from her to the strange girl she'd met a day ago.

Michiko was neither past her prime nor young enough to pass as a student. She'd been teaching for a couple of years before transferring to Suzuki Academic to become the lead librarian. She'd been one of the few teachers who had chosen to stay at the school after the incident six years ago.

On the mahogany table between them were newspaper clips and printed out sheets of notes, facing Naru for reference. He picked up a sheet to start off the interview.

"Saito-san. I'm sure you are aware of why we are here and of the questions that I am going to ask."

She lifted her lips the slightest bit. "I can't say that I had no idea of why I was called in."

"Then could you tell us all that you knew - know - of the death that occurred six years ago?"

The sounds of Lin-san preparing to type away were starting. Titling the new document and such.

All eyes were on Michiko. Mai suddenly realized how nervous and pressed the librarian must have been feeling, but the woman had so far showed no signs of discomfort. Instead she pushed away her teacup and spoke in a clear, calm voice.

"The girl had been a student here. Neya Sachiko. During her sophomore year, she'd been a social and cheerful girl - I knew no one that disliked her. She was smart, above average. Though she could be bluntly honest at times, she never spoke ill of anyone nor had problems with her friends." Saito-san's eyes rose and slid slowly over the pages spilled across the table until it landed on a specific one.

"Then that happened." All eyes fell on the documented sheet of paper. Mai didn't remember reading it or recognized it.

"The murder." Naru said.

"Yes, the murder." Saito-san was still strangely calm, keeping her emotions in check. "While she was at school, Sachiko's family - mother, father and younger sister - were killed by a burglar on the night of August 9th. Her father and mother were shot in the struggle, her younger sister raped and murdered."

Ayako lightly gasped in her seat beside Bou-san. Mai drew her brows together and felt a pang of sorrow. She knew what it was like to lose her family, but she knew it would have been completely different if they'd been killed.

Saito-san blinked a few times. Her voice became light so that they had to lean in to hear.

"Over the next several months, Sachiko was inconsolable. Her friends tried this way and that to comfort her, but she pushed them away." Her fell became saddened. "Smiles disappeared from such a bright kid. She became independent and wouldn't trust anyone for the world. 'I've learned that no one can ever truly be your friend.' She told me once in the library, 'A spark of greed, chance for success or revenge and a human will leap for it.'"

"What a sad philosophy." Bou-san mentioned out-loud.

"Then she met that boy." Saito-san's voice was suddenly slick with malice. Mai could visibly see the hatred barely contained by the woman. The sudden change in her tone and character was unnerving.

"What boy?" Naru knew the answer, but he asked to press the librarian on and keep her on track of the interview. "What was their relationship?"

"They bumped into each other in the library - it had become Sachiko's sanctuary - and he was captivated by her. Several times a day he tried to speak with her and each time I could hear her storm away. But he stuck up with it and slowly she gave into his charms. Apparently, his courage and sincerity was what attracted her. His name was Sato Shouji."

Hearing the last sentence, a breath caught in Mai's throat.

_It seemed as if he wasn'__t__ going answer. But before blending back into the shadows of the shelves behind him, he replied. _

"_Shouji."_

No, it couldn't be the same person. Shouji-kun was dead. But then if the boy Mai had seen had been a ghost…he must have been after all. Mai didn't notice Naru's quick glance at her.

Naru spoke calmly. "You seem to be speaking with some biased reasoning."

Saito-san looked up with an incredulous look upon her face. "I most certainly am not. The facts and evidence are all there Shibuya-san! Of course, even I must admit that the other death wasn't direct, but it was all because of him."

"Other death?" Ayako asked.

Mai tilted her head to one side, eyes wide with curiosity and dread. "What happened?"

Before Naru could stop her, Saito-san let out her answer in a cry. "Because of him she committed suicide!"

...

Saito-san insisted upon leaving after her outburst, forgetting in her distress to apologize or excuse herself.

It was silent after she left, each person lost in their own thoughts and mixture of emotions. It was only minutes after that curiosity started itching at Mai again, probing her to ask the questions that were forming in her head one by one.

However she had no chance. The door to the investigation room beside the base opened, and entered another woman of younger age. She strode in and sat down quite briskly, a polite expression on her face.

"Tanaka Haru." A graduate student from Suzuki Academic in 2004, 5 years ago.

Naru got down to business. His tea had long grown cold. "Tanaka-san, you'd been close friends with Neya Sachiko before her death in sophomore year. Is that correct?"

Mai inwardly flinched. He could be just so blunt at times with questions.

However, she didn't seem to mind. "Yes."

"You were always close friends with her?"

She seemed slightly surprised at the question, as if the answer were obvious. "Of course. Sachiko-chan and I'd always been the best of friends. Even after her family's tragedy - I assume that you know what I'm talking about -" She received a nod from him, "I remained as close as I could with her. She was like a younger sister and I tried to always be there for her."

"When her family had been murdered? How did her behavior change in school?"

Tanaka-san's eyes hardened the slightest bit and rid of her facial emotions. "How anyone else would have. But it was her younger sister's death that got to her the most. She struggled a lot afterward. Actually more than struggled, became strange. Pushed others away."

"And were you there when Neya Sachiko met Sato Shouji?" He inquired.

She nodded.

"How did the two of them get along? Sato-san and Neya-san I mean."

"Sato-kun was very kind to Sachiko-chan. He supported her when he learned of her family's death. He was so persistent in getting to know her and I suppose… suppose that they fell in love."

Naru furrowed his brows with some confusion. "Didn't Neya-san expose her feelings of him to you?"

"Well, I -?" This question seemed to irritate her. "She did think him special. Sachiko-chan never said the word 'love', but I could see her changing."

There was a silence. Naru crossed his arms in front of his chest. He spoke clearly and slowly, all the while looking directly into Tanaka-san's eyes. "Looking into Neya-san's past and medical records with permission, I found out something interesting. No, I'm sorry, not interesting but something that caught my attention. Neya-san's death."

Something sparked in her eyes. Whether it was anger, fear or nervousness Naru couldn't tell, because it was gone in a blink of an eye. Instead a new form of obscure mood feel around the SPR members and young woman.

"She'd fallen down the stairs of the library."

Mai shivered. The very ones she'd walked on that morning.

"It was an accident." Tanaka-san said softly. "We'd had a small disagreement and while she was storming out, she lost her footing and slipped." She cut off her words, a hand clasping her mouth.

Naru waited for the woman to gather herself.

With a small sniff, Tanaka-san shook her head, dark curls spilling around her face. When the young woman had lifted her face, a strange, knowing smile was appearing on her lips. "You probably would like to know what the argument was about, right? Something else might have happened that night…"

Naru's face showed no reaction. "I didn't mean to suggest anything of the sort."

"Of course." She looked tired. Mai couldn't tell if her tone was sarcastic or not. "It had been shortly after Sato-kun's death. He'd committed suicide by jumping off of a building."

Mai softly gasped. Why would he have done so? What about Neya-san, just leave her? It was somewhat unnerving how Tanaka-san's expressions were so impassive when she was talking about death. Maybe because she'd been surrounded by it at such a young age.

Tanaka-san took a breath. "We were in the library like always, just the two of us, when suddenly she began to have a fit. It wasn't…wasn't that she got angry. She cried and then suddenly laughed. Then she stood from her seat without gathering her things and started walking off."

Her voice began to die, along with the light in her eyes. "It was dark, the lightning flashed and it must have startled her. There was the sound of a body falling, bumping and rolling without any screams from her. When I got to her, she was bleeding and already fading away – landed the wrong way."

"I see." Naru narrowed his eyes the slightest bit, a movement that escaped everyone else's attention. She wasn't telling the absolute truth, she was hiding something. Also, she wasn't mentioning that Neya Sachiko's death could have had been suicide.

Lin-san coughed, attracting Naru's attention. With a nod of permission, the man spoke. "We were told by another source that it had been Sato-san's death that had possibly influenced her to commit suicide."

_He noticed the exact thing I had…_Naru wondered what the reaction would be.

Her eyes glowed up. "No." She suddenly made clear. "She fell on her own fault, it wasn't because she wanted to die. Everyone she'd loved had died but…she still had me!"

It seemed that he wanted to press on more, but instead Naru sat back with a grim smile.

"I understand. Thank you for your time."

...

That would be all for the day. Mai had excused herself to the library again, in somewhat of a rush. Lin-san had finished his typing and had gotten into a private discussion with his boss. Then the phone had rung.

"So was it an accidental death? Or suicide?" Bou-san asked to no one in particular.

"And, both women had something negative about the boy." Ayako analyzed. "But they didn't say specify what about him that was so unlikable."

"I wonder – why weren't they happy that the boy had been able to open up Neya-san's world again?"

"Strange huh?"

Putting down the phone, Naru turned over to the monk and miko, disrupting their discussion. "They've just called. Bring Mai back to the base."

Ayako leaned back in her seat. "Contact her through the laptop."

Naru made a face that said, _do you__ honestly __think I haven'__t__ tried?_ "She must be away from her desk."

The miko sighed and pushed herself up from her seat. "Honestly."

...

Mai stared in silence at the notebook that had fallen from the table by some invisible wind. The title at the top of the page was written clearly, labeling the date and first entry of the journal. She just looked, couldn't make herself reach out to pick it up.

_1st Entry: June 11th_

It seemed to be too much to call it a coincidence. June 11th, the date when she'd been at the library that one night, when she'd seen that strange girl.

And why were there words written now on the pages that had been blank before?

Before anything else could happen, there was the sound of opening doors, footsteps. Coming her way.

The boy again? Mai wouldn't take any chances. She could look at the journal later at night. The girl quickly grabbed it at the spine and pushed it under a pile of papers. Being in the library, Mai turned and drew out the thickest book she could easily reach. The footsteps were closer, almost at her now. She inched to the edge of the bookcase and…

With a resounding shriek, Mai struck hard.

"Ack!"

Mai opened her eyes and looked up. She knew that voice. She saw with horror at the figure with long brown hair wearing a blue T-shirt, twitching behind the volume with pain. "Ah! Bou-san, I'm so sorry!"

After the second he'd regained his composure, the monk rubbed his face, squinting open an eye to look up at Mai with a pained grin. "Who'd you think I was?"

She rolled her eyes elsewhere. "Well…"

There was great laughter and Mai didn't have to look up from the grumbling monk to know whose it was. The red-haired miko walked out from behind the shelves and eyed Bou-san with humor in her eyes. "Good thing you were a gentleman and walked in front of me." When he only answered with a moan, Ayako patted his head. "Exaggerating a bit, aren't we?"

She was sent a death glare, but Ayako evaded it, looking at Mai. The girl clasped the thick book to her chest. "Won't Naru be angry you left your stations?"

Ayako shook her head. "The two of us stayed back at the base. And on the contrary, he sent us here."

"Eh? What for?" Question marks flew from Mai's head.

"Because _you_ were away from your sta –" he received a blow to the side of his head. However, seemingly having gotten over being hit in the face, Bou-san fell back from his squatted position and sat upon the floor.

"John and Masako have arrived." He answered with a smile.

**To be continued…**

Ohh some of you are _not_ reviewing. Lol thanks for reading! Please leave a comment…

_Chapter 4: Together_


	4. Chapter 4 Together

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

Whispering Pages  
Chapter 4: Together

**June 13th 8:30 AM**

Masako's reaction to arriving at the school was not one everyone had been expecting. She immediately got to work.

Her voice was low and charming as ever, and with precision. Raising a sleeve of her kimono, Masako lowered her eyes and spoke. "All of the spirits here are confused. A young man and two…three women."

Mai registered what Masako had said. "Three women?" She looked towards Naru and the others, but no answer came out. The only ones they'd been aware of that had died had been Sato Shouji and Neya Sachiko.

Naru said so out loud to the medium and priest.

Mai was surprised that the medium knew so much with only a tour around the campus.

Except they hadn't gone near the library yet. Once inside Masako would most likely sense different things. Mai knew that some sort of strong emotions were at the underlying building, especially at the stairs.

And most impressively, Masako wasn't trying to cling onto Naru. There was the usual hidden-but-obvious flicker of eyes towards the young man, but Masako had somewhat matured. She carried herself differently with a new light overhead.

Mai couldn't help but think that she'd gotten stronger.

"So? Let's hear about Shouji-kun." Masako said, turning to the brunette. She raised a sleeved hand to her lips. "You _did_ see him, didn't you?"

Mai stopped herself from visibly twitching, Masako was still Masako. "Yes." Then with a grin, she said: "Imagine him as Naru, but with longer hair – like Bou-san's – and a smile on his face. His voice it kinder than Naru's and he had –"

"It's not going to help to describe him," Naru suddenly cut off. "Masako was asking if you'd felt or seen anything significant. If that's all, then it'll be no help to us."

Her moth slightly open, Mai rounded on Naru and started ranting about how he should fix his 'habit' of cutting her off and making her appear so stupid. He replied that she wouldn't think so if she had more self-confidence. She thought he had too much.

The two left bickering, Mai losing by a landslide. Then a silent Masako and grinning John followed behind. Ayako and Bou-san stayed towards the back, watching boss and employee in their verbal fight.

"Don't you think he lost his temper this time?" Bou-san asked the miko. He was smiling. "Well, as much of a temper as that guy will ever show?"

Ayako looked at him; almost wondering if he was pretending to be this thickheaded. Ah well, he was a guy and they were all hopeless. Instead, she whispered while giving him a careful eye. "I think it was a _different_ anger this time."

"You think so?" He asked with some surprise in his voice. He flinched when she raised an eyebrow at him. He was confused at her reaction.

"Mm, never mind." Ayako quickened her pace. _Hopeless_.

...

The reunited SPR members entered the library in one big mass. The group wandered slowly through the doors and to the space filled with books and shelves. After a short walk and a turn, the wide opening of the stairs leading up to the second story presented itself.

"So this is the staircase?" John-san asked with an impressed look on his face. His light hand weaved and followed the designs of the wooden structure. "It's exquisite."

Mai smiled as she nodded in agreement. "I didn't know you were so into architecture."

He smiled brightly. "Something about old houses and structures grab my attention. They're built differently, after all."

Mai turned around and saw Masako taking her time to absorb the old library and possibly detect any spirits. She was walking this way and that, taking short steps without looking at anything in particular.

"Mai, have any useful dreams lately?" Bou-san asked loudly.

The young girl started. "Huh? Ah sorry no."

"Mai-san will get them when the time comes, right?" John gently said to the monk.

Mai nodded with the usual uneasy smile. "I guess I will."

Then a low, forgotten voice called out. "There's something here, it's a strange–" But Masako didn't get to finish her sentence. There was the sound of heavy breathing.

Mai quickly spun around and her eyes widened at the scene. "Masa…ko?"

She was just standing there, lightly shaking. Then as if in slow motion Masako fell to her knees without warning. The young medium tightened her hands atop of the carpet floor and cried out. It scared everyone badly, sending them over to the fallen girl with quick steps of concern.

Mai reached her first. "Masako! What's wrong –" Then her words were cut off as well.

She gasped in as if a punch had been landed on her chest. She couldn't see, just mass suffocation and pain. It was getting difficult to breathe, like being held down underwater for too long…

Looks of worry washed over Bou-san's face. Mai could only make out his dark eyes. "Oy! What's wrong?"

A streak of red and black… then all faded.

"Mai, Hara-san!" The sturdy voice of Naru rang out, but received no reply. The members could only catch the girls and await their revival.

...

Immediately, Mai knew this dream was different.

One, dream-Naru was nowhere to be seen and it was as if she had just been transported to another part of the library. Second, Masako was standing right beside her.

Mai turned to the other girl, whose eyes were locked at a sight straight in front of them. "Masako?" Mai called to the impassive face. After a moment of silence, Mai gave up on her hopes. She could only follow the hard gaze of the girl's lavender eyes and watch.

Students were seated at a desk, their figures blackened with unknown shadows. Actually, it was difficult to know which of the blurred shapes were human and which were inanimate objects. Only when they made movements could either of the girls fully tell. One thing was for sure. There were four lumps, and the largest one was most likely male. The other three with pony-tails, female.

Mai drew her brows together with contemplation. _Is this __**the**__ night? But…then there should only be three people._

They moved this way and that, exchanging either books or papers and quietly shifting in their seats.

But soon the scene blended away, blown off like dust from a blank page. A new scene was reveled. Images were still shadowed, hiding faces and names to indicate the area, but Mai and Masako found themselves standing on one side of a street, their faces illuminating now and then as the stoplights, the only things with color, changed from red to green and yellow. They waited.

Even with only dull shades of grays and blacks Mai and Masako knew that it was a day with no sun. It almost had a dreary sense of feeling to the place and the girls could swear that they could feel drops of pattering down rain.

A flash of her instincts told Mai that someone was approaching them. Raising a slow finger, she was soon able to point the person out. A person – a student but male or female? – was walking down the sidewalk parallel to the one that Mai and Masako were watching from. The figure continued, head down with a slow, sluggish pace, before reaching the end, taking a right and walking away from them.

After a few steps, the figure faltered in its steps and stopped.

And there it was again. Again, Mai was the first one to notice it, but maybe it was because she'd heard it before. Nudging Masako, Mai pointed to her ears and closed her eyes. After a moment, the young medium did likewise and gave a start when an eerie tune floated and filled her mind.

...

Naru narrowed his eyes. Something about this library was wrong. Spirits weren't supposed to appear in clear sight when there was a room full of people. Not this many. But there they were, strange shadows that were drifting in-between shelves, peeking out with the dull whites of their dead eyes.

Bou-san immediately began his chanting, leaving Mai protectively in Ayako's arms and standing in front of them.

"Look!" The alarmed voice of John Brown reached everyone's ears and they turned to see a horrific sight.

The fleeting images were clearer than only moments before and were drawing closer. Within seconds the SPR members were surrounded. Quickly the priest laid down Masako's unconscious form and drew out a bottle of his holy water.

Naru took out his cell phone in hopes to contact Lin, but there was no reception. Turning behind him, the young man called out: "Brown-san, watch the stair cases behind us. Matsuzaki-san stay with Mai and Masako, they could be in danger."

"Alright." The miko nodded. She scooted towards Masako and carefully kept her eyes on either side of her. John was behind and Takigawa-san and Naru in front spread apart. The figures were in a circle a few feet apart, but seemed to keep their distance.

After minutes of chanting, Bou-san let out an annoyed grunt with a scowl overcoming his face. "This isn't having the least amount of effect on them! Naru, what are they?"

The young man didn't answer, only stared at the eyes of the figure closest to him.

"Oy!"

Then Naru momentarily shifted his gaze to the monk and back and said a single word. "Watch."

As if on cue, the dark figures began to sway and performed their tragic skit.

...

The tune was the same one that Mai had heard in the library, but this time it seemed to _have_ a far away source. Looking closely towards the figure, it seemed that he or she had suddenly turned around and started running back the way it'd come. Both girls drew in tight breaths when they realized what was about to happen. A car was speeding forward and the lights turned green.

Mai screamed and reached out, but her voice never sounded. There was a sickening crash as the body, surprised by sudden loss of control, tumbled away, hand outstretched and a beautiful blue trickling from the fingers.

It was all too sudden that neither of the girls could fully react to the incident. Instead Mai noticed the other color that had caught her eye. _What is that?_

As Mai took a step, so did Masako until the girls found themselves on either side of the dead body. Mai squatted down but refrained from touching anything. It was broken stained glass. The lid of a lovely music box that was continuing to play its haunting melody.

_So that was it, a music box..._

The figure dissolved as did the location and they were back at the library. This time only three students at the table. There was no movement between them, only quiet sitting.

There was a small sniff and Mai turned to Masako beside her. "Masako…eh?" She could hear her voice. As tears slide down the other girl's cheeks, Mai wrapped a comforting arm around her. "Can you hear me now?"

Masako nodded. "Mai, it's not over yet but…I want to wake up."

"I know." Mai whispered. "Me too."

A zephyr passed by and the girls found themselves looking up towards the top of a building that seemed to be the library. A slim line of another figure was standing at the edge of the roof. Too close to the edge, on the verge of jumping…

Masako screamed as the figure suddenly shifted their feet and fell like dead weight towards the ground. It remained unmoving and died after a shudder.

Mai gritted her teeth. "Why is this happening?"

A low familiar voice passed by as the building crumbled down and showed two people seated at the same table. One was seated with a lowered head while the other seemed to be content.

_And now they're gone…_

...

The dark figures turned towards one or another and unsteadily moved in.

Ayako gasped but was quietly shushed by the monk. "I don't think they want to harm us." He assured. _I hope…_

The SPR members could only watch and keep alert.

The shadowed figures lunged at one another and began to cut each other down, all done swiftly and gracefully. Naru widened his eyes as he saw the 'victors' of each pairing walking towards another shadow. "Brown-san."

"Yes." A faint voice called back. "The same thing happening over there?"

Naru narrowed his eyes. "Ah."

The brawling continued until quite quickly two shadows were left. The others had been cut down and then disappeared into nothing. It was slightly blurred by now but the two figures came together. One stopped short of meeting the other and stood still. The shadow didn't seem to notice and closed the distance, closing their arms around the other in an embrace.

Then, with unexpected speed and course of action, the still shadow pushed away the hug and stabbed the other, watching with a gleeful smile as it stained the floor with black blood.

...

"Mai."

The girl reacted to her name and looked up again. The atmosphere at the table was as sullen as ever, now seating a single, dark form. "Now only one person left." Mai observed.

"Mm."

As a draft blew in, the silkiness of Masako's kimono disappeared and Mai gave a surprised shout when the girl also disappeared. "M-Masako? Where'd she go?" She wasn't beside her any longer. "No…"

Everything turned white and soon Mai lost consciousness. _What's going on? Is it over?_

She just wished Masako were safe.

...

There was only the tapping of Naru's pen and the soft and steady breaths of everyone breathing. Even Lin wasn't typing or researching on the computer, but instead skimming through piles of notes, clearly distracted. Then a soft moan was heard and the strings of tension in the room snapped.

"Ugh…"

"She's awake!"

Mai heard John before she saw him. "Ah, John-san. Where am I?"

"Back at the base." Another male voice answered. The monk handed her a glass of water and a couple pills of medicine for her aching head. "Are you feeling alright? You were out much longer than Masako."

At the sound of the medium's name, Mai forgot her thirst and sat up completely awake. "Is she here? She okay?"

"Eh, I've recovered."

Her voice came from the corner of the room. Mai followed the sound of the reply and her eyes fell upon the other girl with a warm cup of tea in her hands. Masako, upon taking a sip, began to speak. "I've already told everyone about what we saw in the library. Apparently, they saw something similar occurring while we were unconscious."

Mai only stared at her. _She's being so calm…_

"We'll give you more of the details tomorrow." Ayako said with hurried interjection. She didn't want Mai to get worried or to be suddenly overwhelmed by information the moment she had recovered. The Miko drew back her red hair behind one ear. "However, it'll be safe to keep away from the library for the time being."

Setting down her emptied cup, Mai nodded reluctantly. "I guess so."

"We should call it a night." Naru said. With crossed arms across his chest, the young man eyed Mai. "Stay here for a few minutes to gather yourself and then you can join Hara-san and Matsuzaki-san at their room."

"Got it."

Mai raised a hand and pressed the back of it to her eyes. As she heard the shuffle of feet leave the base the only thing on her mind was the library. She _had_ to go back the next day to retrieve the notebook.

"_However, it'll be safe to keep away from the library for the time being."_

_No, but the journal is still there…I don't want it to remain there overnight…Sorry Ayako. _With a firm nod to herself, Mai slowly sat up and drew her feet over the couch into a sitting position. Both Lin and Naru had their backs turned and didn't seem to have noticed that she had gotten up.

Perfect.

It was just that she happened to miss the glances that they both took out of the corners of their eyes.

"Mai."

"Eh?" _He noticed?_ Mai turned around with nervousness. _What a scary guy. _

"That's not the door to take to get to your room."

She nodded her head to one side while tapping her fingers together. "I just want to take a short walk out, my head's still a bit troubled with what happened today, I'll be right back." Without waiting for a reply or permission, Mai hurried out the door and was gone.

"Mai!" After a short stare where Mai had been standing seconds before, Naru returned to his notes and turned on his laptop with a free hand, switching on the numerous screens that showed different sections of the library at a time.

"Telling such a blatant lie."

Lin remained silent, only emitting a short sigh that went by unnoticed by his young boss. One day…one day that girl would finally realize that going against warnings would be fatal.

Hopefully she would learn. He couldn't always be there for the both of them, after all.

...

The library was so different from when it was seen during the daylight. In the afternoons, the building was no different from any other, but once night fell something sinister surrounded only the library. It was impossible to escape the feeling.

Mai looked up as if challenging the building as she had been doing the past few minutes, thinking to herself. Was it really safe for her to enter alone?

"Of course," she told herself. "I left the notebook in there. I need to read it and know the truth."

So with her decision made, Mai walking into the building and closed the door lightly behind her.

The path, number of steps to her station, came back to her from memory as she drew nearer to the spot. Once there with heavy breaths, Mai was able to immediately spot the dark green book and she walked forward to retrieve it. _I wonder if the writings are still there?_

Then through the forces of some unknown nature, possibly her instincts, Mai felt inclined to raise her head and look beside her, towards the windows. A shadow of a figure.

The girl didn't even flinch, she'd somehow known that he'd show up, or maybe he'd been the one waiting for her? He was pale – too pale – and his skin was faintly tinged blue. His school uniform was ruffled and slightly wet from what, to Mai's horror, seemed to be blood, clinging to his form in a way that only accentuated his unnatural pallor. Mai would have liked to run, the notebook in hand, but his gaze held her in place with an intensity she couldn't escape –

"You…" She whispered almost breathlessly.

He just stood there passively, apparently not as bothered as the last time they'd met. "Yeah, me."

Mai stepped forward with some haste and observed closely. He was standing under the moonlight so that she could now plainly see his face. The strange boy had midnight hair and brilliantly dark chocolate eyes. They were the deepest brown, and yet they sparkled.

Shouji's eyes narrowed. "Memorizing my features?"

Mai bit her lip from letting out a retort but failed. "Not at all, _Shouji_-kun." She watched as the boy reacted to the call of his name.

He raised an eyebrow of surprise before reaching his full height and tilting his head. He was becoming interested in this girl, the one who was able to see so much that afternoon and have the uncanny ability to see and _speak_ with him. It was a first.

Something didn't lie comfortably for Mai. Somehow she knew what was going on in the boy's mind. He seemed to be only visible to her. In an effort to grow distance between them, Mai forgot the chair beside her and she took a step back. Her arm collided with the head of the chair and the notebook fell from her grasp…

…revealing the first page of the notebook. The boy's eyes widened.

"That," Shouji pointed. "Doesn't belong to you. How did you find it?"

"That's none of your business." Mai countered loudly. But she inwardly frowned. _Not where did you find it, but how._ She was scared, but kept her features calm. She tightened her fists to keep from trembling. She quickly picked it up and set it on the table beside her.

"It'll only confuse you." His face was blank.

"What? Why?"

His tone became frustrated. "You're going to read that aren't you? Then do so while knowing that you'll only be finding more pieces to the puzzle that'll throw you off. It's written with emotion." He lowered his voice. "One chapter from the middle of a tale."

"You sure know a lot about something that isn't yours."

"And you sure have guts for keeping something that isn't yours."

"I have a faint idea of who it belonged to." Judging by his face, Mai knew he did as well. She straightened her gaze. "You're _Sato Shouji_, aren't you?"

The way his eyes hardened over was enough of an answer for her. He silently leaned back so that he was resting against the windowsill.

"Well then why– huh?" She blinked her eyes once, twice and then stared at Shouji's ghostly figure. He was becoming _transparent_. Not that he'd ever been solid, but now Mai could see the white walls he was leaning on for support and the dark sky behind his head, through his head.

"Why don't you fall through?"

"Hm?" His eyes widened. It was clearly an unexpected question.

She asked again. "When you're leaning back, why don't you go through?"

He looked down at himself and sighed. "You know, it doesn't work like that – It's more complicated. And that's beside the point now." He raised his gaze with intensity. "Go back to your friends and stay there."

She stubbornly kept silent. His gaze fell on her once more and it was as if he was casting a spell on her at that moment until –_"Mai, Mai!"_

After a moment of surprise, Mai gave out a small 'eep!' and he vanished into thin air.

_Dman, I needed to ask him more questions…_

A sharp, demanding voice was calling for her. She felt beads of sweat forming across her brow. _Naru_…It was Naru calling through the laptop. Mai tapped the black button and spoke "I'm fine, just – just a moment will be fine."

"_I knew you'd be there. Mai, come back now. Lin just went over but called and said that the doors aren't – "_

"It's fine!" She cut him off. "I'll be right back." She had to read it now.

Without waiting for Naru to press the matter, she shut off the computer and took a shaky seat at the table.

Trembling, Mai grasped the notebook tighter and took in a breath as if getting ready to dive into deep water. And looking down at the pages, she breathed out. A sense of invitation reached out from the pages and Mai started to read as if there would be no other chances to do so.

**To be continued…**

I'm going to Japan next tuesday! I'll be there July 31st till August 10th, so I don't know if I'm going to put up chapter 5 before I leave or not...possibly. Anyway, please review


	5. Chapter 5 Dripping Stains

\Whispering Pages\  
Chapter 5: Dripping Stains

Sachiko's handwriting, written with thin black ink, was neat and quite simple to read. The entries had been periodically updated throughout the one-month of June. Mai reassured herself again that this journal – more of a diary, she realized – would hopefully be of great help to the case.

That in mind, her eyes lowered to the pages and began to drink in the words.

_Property of Neya Sachiko_

_1st Entry: June 11th_

_I've only decided to write again under the influence of Saito sensei._

_I suppose I must thank her for everything, even if it's only through written expressions, otherwise I would feel as if I could never fully pay her back for her kindness. So sensei, I truly thank you for your saving words when I was in doubt and for your listening ears during my period of turmoil._

_And thank you, for providing me with this notebook. I feel as if I've earned a new friend after quite some time. It knows nothing about my past or character, and whatever I write upon it, it will absorb and accept without judgement._

_I miss our Sara. It's already been 4 months and yet I cannot help but remember her smile like I'd seen them in our classes together. I wish that I could have found out what had gone wrong before she was taken away from us. Why did she try to give me the music box back? Why did she start to avoid the places I'd study or visit? I don't understand. Suddenly it'd been like all our times of friendship, hardships and treasured hopes had been irreparably shattered. And in their place—hurt, grief, and the stinging of betrayal._

_When I needed her the most._

_Also…_

_I've become such an ugly person since my family's death. It's horrible, I hate the world, hate the people here and their fake compassion._

_But I love him._

_I never got around to tell you about Sato Shouji, did I?_

_We've – Haru and I – have known him for 6 months. He's the physical form of the night. Such gleaming dark features and moonlight black hair. But his inside characteristics are pure white and kind. Months after my parents had been killed, he'd come to me with a comforting touch._

_When he'd reached out to me and I'd taken his hand, they'd been surprisingly warm, a gentle touch that had warmed me up to my heart. Strangely, many people have started avoiding him._

_Such a love struck girl I've become. But I will not let something like this get to my thinking._

_I haven't been blinded enough to notice how Haru has been acting. She doesn't seem to understand how happy I am. When I'd asked her if she liked him, Haru got this look in her eye._

_"He's no good Sachiko-chan." She'd said. "You barely know him."_

_I didn't reply, but got a feeling that she wasn't telling me something that she knew. I couldn't understand why, we've been best friends for so many struggling years, what could it be?_

_Or perhaps it is just my paranoia playing with my mind. Maybe it's nothing at all._

_2nd Entry: June 13th _

_I've decided that Sara's death wasn't accidental. I'm not suggesting it was murder, anyone could have been hit by that car if they'd been going out at it the same way Sara had that night. But no, she'd acted strangely before her death, and it had lead her to that street that day with enough thoughts on her mind to impair her senses to walk out on a red light._

_And I have something to confess…I don't want to believe it but I somewhat suspect that Sara had been threatened!_

_Not by Haru, never, we've been too good a friends, but I had often seen the two speaking with one another, and then changing the subject as soon as I'd walked up to them. I've even tried eavesdropping once, and this was what I'd heard:_

_"…or else you won't be allowed to continue your studies," Haru had whispered. "You know what you should do, right?"_

_Sara had had this strange look on her face – guilt?_

_Haru had taken a grip on Sara's upper arm and with a look of impatience had said, "Do it soon, or else you'll loose everything."_

_Sara had nodded and I'd left by then, more confused as ever. But I'd known and am positive now that the 'she' they'd been talking about had been me. What truth?_

_Was the thing that Sara had to do be to break our friendship?_

_Suicide…I cannot stand that word, no! Something else._

_If I close my eyes now, I can still hear our song playing across the night sky._

_I must go now, Haru and Shouji are coming to study, test tomorrow._

_3rd Entry: June 14th_

_I guess you could say that Shouji and I are kindred spirits._

_We're both hurt people with no family. I can't seem to be apart from him, and I do feel bad for neglecting Haru. But these two are the only ones I have left that aren't just sympathetic towards me. It just the three of us now._

_However I've been wary about some things lately._

_Haru spoke about a place that she never should have mentioned in front of Shouji today. That place. It'd been left for us I know it. The secret corner we'd discovered and left for our secrets and times of gathered seclusion. Now another knows it. Well, at least it's someone that I can trust._

_She knew that he loved places that that, knew that he'd want to check it out._

_Maybe that's why she mentioned it?_

_But now he wants to go and see it and discover with us._

_"Sachiko, we'll have a fun time." Shouji had insisted with a small smile._

_"Yes, let's go."_

_I'd been surprised. "Now?" I'd asked with oncoming anxiousness. "You'll be seen."_

_"Then tonight. Tonight meet at the front of the library. You come too Sachiko." Shouji had said._

_Shouji had never been this exited in a long time and I couldn't find the heart in me to refuse._

_But the look that Haru made had me thinking that she didn't want me to tag along. It was a look that confused me._

_So later we did meet up at the front of the library, late at night. Tracking to the back and through the bushes until we reached the spot. I must write it down or I will forget: 4-8-2._

_It's nothing spectacular, but when Haru and I had first found the place, we'd known that the spot had been abandoned for forgotten about for years – dust had whitened every surface and cobwebs had hung from the corners of the underground room. We'd committed the next few days in dusting, spraying out bugs and tidying up the empty space._

_Even entering was a bit of a trick. Just when you thought that your feet would meet the floor, it was a short but startling drop._

_The room wasn't tall enough for us to stand up in, but we only needed to bend our heads over slightly to walk around, 6 by 5 steps large._

_We could comfortably fit four other people. It was exiting for the other two, but I was nervous. The night was windy and a storm had started to arrive earlier that day. It sounded as if it would let out soon._

_"We should head back." I'd suggested. But Shouji was too busy inspecting the walls. I forgot to mention those… When Haru and I had found this room, the ways had had strange markings over them with dark ink the color of hardened sap. When read, they didn't mean anything to us, just random scribbles, but that night Shouji must have noticed a code of a sort. I didn't really pay attention._

_"After a minute." Shouji had said back. Looking at me with those dark eyes, he smiled. It was a sad one, I think. I couldn't quite read his expression and it had been one I'd never seen in him._

_I wished to say something back, tell him that it would be dangerous to stay any longer, but nothing came out._

_Haru whispered at me, "Nothing will happen Sachiko-chan. It'll be fine."_

_"But the wind's blowing." I reminded her. "If one of us aren't back to keep watch, we'll be locked in."_

_That was my one fear whenever Haru and I were secretly here at nights. Of being locked away in complete blackness and no one able to hear our screams. The thought frightens me greatly._

_"Then go and stay watch. We'll be up in a minute."_

_I was eager to leave, so I did as she suggested._

_But when they returned, Shouji's face was different - he wouldn't look at me._

_That night…perhaps things could have ended differently if I hadn't left to keep watch. What had happened?_

_4th Entry: June 16th_

_He's gone…too many tears, I can't write._

_Goodbye._

_6th Entry: June 25th_

_What have I done to deserve such loss and betrayal?_

_My mother, father, poor, sweet little sister. Our Sara who'd never injure another deliberately and now dear Shouji!!_

_Why, I can't keep from laughing! It's too funny! The chances of Shouji being…_

_But it's over with, he's gone, Sara's gone. This world is twisted._

_I'd excused myself from class today and stepped out side, sliding the door shut behind me. When I pushed myself off the wall to go back to my dorm, I was startled to see Haru standing a few feet away as if she'd been waiting for me._

_I found myself breathing slightly heavier. It's been like this for a while, even when Shouji had been around, but Haru's been acting more and more attached to me. Won't let me out of sight or let me talk to others without permission. It's because she cares and because I'm at a fragile stage right now, I keep telling myself._

_Haru tried to comfort me, coming around and giving me a hug. As usual I wanted to loosen up and cry onto her shoulders or give out a held up sigh, but I couldn't._

_She must have noticed my discomfort and tension, and held me tighter. "My little Sachiko, I'm so sorry this is happening." she whispered close to my ear._

_The words did little to calm me down and strangely made me feel twisted emotions._

_I didn't reply, only stood there, arms by my side and face emotionless. But thoughts were running through my mind so quickly I couldn't grasp a single one and think it through._

_She stroked my hair gently. "I'm here though, just like it used to be." She whispered into my ear. "Haru and Sachiko, best friends that only need each other."_

_After a moment I pushed away and walked off, leaving her standing alone in the corridor._

_If I lose Haru now, I'll have no more reason to live. But then again I suspect **something**._

_7th Entry: June 27th_

_I wish I'd been home on the night of the burglary. If I'd stayed one more night, I could have been killed with my sister, and then at least I'd be with my family._

_Instead I'm stuck, very much alive, enduring the hardships. Watching my friends die, one by one._

_This is a curse it just has to be! How else could this be happening?_

_No. Before it gets me, I'll end things. I will not be controlled._

_8th Entry: June 30th_

_It's getting worse._

_Must go study. If I die soon, I won't be going alone. I know everything now, everything._

_Haha I'm laughing so hard. How did this all come together like this?_

_Jealousy has to be the most passionate emotion of a human being…_

_And we all fall down…_

_End of Neya Sachiko's Entires_

Mai shut the notebook and pushed it away from her sight. Within a second she heard it land with a soft 'thump' upon the floor. Had that been worth it? Had it helped any?

Some of the writing had been blurred from tears, other parts smudged from excessive erasing and rewriting. The rest had been blank, bringing Mai to believe that Sachiko had died not long after her last entry.

Mai was utterly confused, wanted answers now more than ever. She brought a hand over her eyes and squeezed them tightly until she saw white spots. The deaths that had occurred had matched up with what she and Masako had seen. This Sara girl…she would have to investigate more about her and this notebook…

Looking back at it, Mai sighed after coming to a tough decision. She'd have Naru read it.

Slowly getting up, Mai came around the desk and after heavily leaning over, grabbed a hold of the notebook. She shut it and turned it over in her hands with heavy breaths emitting from her lips, feeling the roughness. Mai sank away into the darkness and sneaked back to the base and to her room for the protection of her covers, all the while the image of midnight black eyes clear in her mind.

**To be continued…**

I'm going to Japan today! see you all in 10 days


	6. Chapter 6 Investigations

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

Thank you so much to Moon-Daisuki for editing/re-reading this chapter. It was a real help!

-Whispering Pages-  
Chapter 6: Investigations

**June 14th**

The morning was gray and cloudy, an unusually dreary day during June. Mai shivered as she brushed her hair. It was as though there were no escaping the chill that hung over the campus. The reflection of her dark green jacket and black skirt in the mirror was a constant reminder of the day's solemnity.

But since reading the journal—Mai shivered. A sense of bleakness seemed to hang over the library, a sense of unease that she could not quite dispel. As if that wasn't enough to worry about, she knew that everyone would be questioning why she hadn't returned until late that night.

It would be too early now for anyone to be up, but perhaps Lin-san…He might be at the base already or possibly still asleep. She decided there could be no harm in taking a quick look.

Eh, Mai thought, slightly disappointed. He was there, sitting at the desk—but it didn't seem as though he were awake. "Lin-san?"

Mai approached nervously. The older man was bent over the desk, his head and arms resting on it in a way that made Mai's own neck ache in sympathy. Surely, he couldn't have spent the night there-but a glance at the bare couch and lightly humming and warm computer confirmed it. Mai placed her hand on the man's lightly raising and falling shoulder.

"Lin-san it's morning."

He sighed and stirred, blinking at her in confusion. Mai was surprised that her whisper had been enough to wake the sleeping man.

"Taniyama-san, what are you awake so early for?"

He was up more quickly than Mai would have preferred; perhaps he hadn't been asleep too long.

"I…uh," Mai stuttered, stepping quickly away from him. "Well I really couldn't sleep…"

Lin blinked again then looked at his watch. His usual tidy hair stood out at pressed angles, making him look oddly cute. Mai hid a smile; this was the first time she'd seen him as approachable as he did that moment. She decided that she would make him some tea. She took short steps towards the water boiler and from a box beside it took out a teabag.

"It is already morning," he said, slipping back into his accustomed formality. Looking up at Mai, he gently frowned. "It was dangerous of you to return to the library last night."

Mai silently agreed, but inwardly groaned. Lin just had to get down to business with everyone. After waiting a minute, she dipped and re-dipped the teabag before pulling it out and tossing it into the trash can.

Lin quietly watched before speaking again. "Even Naru stayed up later to see if you'd returned," he said carefully, watching her reactions. "He—"

Mai set down the tea on a small, uncovered area upon the desk of papers and pens. "I'm sorry," she said, as the older man paused. "Of course something could have—"

"It's fine now that nothing serious happened," Lin smoothed his hair down and rubbed his eyes. "But now we'll have to keep an eye on you. Naru would be very upset if something were to happen, he'd feel guilt and worry."

Mai longed to say he was wrong, but the finality that hung over Lin prevented her. Instead, she sent him a doubtful glance to which he replied, "I thought you should know that."

It was the kindest look he'd given her in months.

...

"Mai, tea."

"Okay."

She set down the cup of tea with much fragility, as if it could break under her fingertips at any moment. It was long past afternoon and no one was questioning her about anything. She could only assume that she'd gotten lucky and Masako and Ayako hadn't stayed up, waiting late into the night for her. That meant that only Naru and Lin were the ones' who knew of her escape to the library.

She was getting no scolding from her boss. When she'd entered the room, all he'd done was give her the usual side-glance of acknowledgment, and an order for his morning tea.

Mai sighed, taking the tray tightly in her arms. This feeling of anticipation was troubling her more then anything right now. She knew there was going to be a catch later on.

"Do you need something?"

"Eh?" She did a double take before looking at her boss with a blank stare.

"If you do, say so quickly."

With a blush, she heard the monk's chuckle at the scene behind her. "Nothing." Mai said short of a snap. As she walked away, Mai stopped in her tracks to watch Naru at his desk. The items on the surface revealed what he'd been up to the night before.

Spread across the desk, were papers of the deaths of Sachiko and Shouji-kun. There were sheets of writing, printed out from documented backgrounds of the school and students and pieces of the interviews that Lin had typed.

Mai hesitated, but after coming to a decision, she walked back to his desk.

Ayako, Bou-san, and John watched with interest, noticing Mai's halting steps towards and away from her boss's desk.

"Naru, there is something that might help out."

"What is it?"

Mai moved the tray to stall, so that she was holding it pressed to her back. "Shouji-kun's suicide wasn't the only death that affected Sachiko-chan."

He looked up at her, making sure he'd heard right. Had she had another dream? Her voice was oddly confident as if she had. However, he kept calm and said carefully, "If there had been anyone else worth looking into, they would have been either mentioned by the principal or the two women we questioned."

Mai gazed up at her boss while holding back her look of disbelief. It had to be that he was testing her or something, because she'd never heard him say anything so simple-minded. Since when had he taken the words of others so readily, especially ones of those he'd just met? "But they could have just assumed that it wouldn't be important." She pointed out tightly.

He felt as though she knew him too well, that she was able to read into his thoughts now. Naru only placed a sheet of paper on top of another and asked, "Who did you have in mind?"

Though mildly surprised at his sudden turn and questioning gaze, Mai spoke after a deliberation. "Sara – a girl that used to be friends with Neya Sachiko, I'm sure that she died by getting hit by a car."

As she spoke, she could see his eyes widen the most he'd allow them. Masako also turned her head, understanding part of Mai's reasoning.

Before Naru could ask anything, a sharp rap came upon the door to the base. What awful timing Mai couldn't help but think. Everyone looked towards it with curiosity and Naru with slight annoyance. There weren't any scheduled appointments of any sort.

"Come in." Naru called out anyway.

Answering his invitation, the door slowly opened to reveal a young man with glasses and casual clothing, smiling back at them. He held up a short packet of papers in one hand, and waved a greeting with the other. "Hello," he sang.

"Y-Yasuhara-san!"

The face of another person stuck out from behind with a wide grin that brought liveliness into the room. Madoka Mori widened her smile as she stepped out beside her companion. "Hello everyone!"

...

The look upon Madoka's face immediately changed upon spotting Naru. She tilted her head to one side, hand on hips, in hopes of making him feel guilty. "Naru, why didn't you call me back? We could have gone on vacation together."

Naru distinctly remembered the letter that Madoka had sent him, which he'd disposed without a second glance. With a sigh, the young boss changed the subject. "You could have at least called before arriving." He answered thoroughly deciding to ignore the question.

Madoka seemed to be at a loss, and she only emptied her emotions before crossing her arms. "Ehh."

"But boss," Yasuhara said with a slight whine in his voice, "How could you? You finally accepted a case, but didn't bother telling me about it." The young man waved the thick pack of papers, back and forth in a sluggish manner. "And Mori-san and I went through all the trouble of gathering information for you."

Naru blankly looked towards Mai.

"Oh…" A moment passed as she sat up, remembering what she'd forgotten to do. Mai meekly scratched her chin. "Ah, gomen Yasuhara-san, everything was just so rushed, and I forgot to send you an e-mail while I was contacting everyone else."

Yasuhara looked at her for a moment with wide blinking eyes. He looked surprised but quickly broke into a broad smile. He slightly gave a bow. "Oh, well if it was you who forgot Taniyama-san, all's forgiven."

"Hmm…" The monk found his way towards the young man and threw a teasing arm around him. Yasuhara smiled as Bou-san lightly patted his shoulder.

"You're awfully forgiving when it comes to Mai." He mentioned.

"Hai Takigawa-san." As if hiding in embarrassment, Yasuhara lowered his face behind one hand. However, his sly, teasing eyes looked up towards his tormentor. "I'm weak against cute girls."

Mai was giggling when Ayako caught her eye. "There they go again as soon as they meet." She said.

Madoka and Yasuhara…. How long had it been since everyone had gathered like this? Knowing the woman, she'd probably already gathered information about Sara and the whole accident. Also Yasuhara was prone to look at the information that weren't considered to be hard facts, but phrases or parts of the document that were indicative and relevant.

Madoka lightly shoved Yasuhara from behind, giving him his startling steps, and freeing him from the monk's grasp. "My, my…you two." She turned back towards Naru, and took the papers from Yasuhara's hands passing them over. Her expression tensed as she explained. "Those documents have information on the background of this school, and specific personal profiles of the deceased students."

Yasuhara re-adjusted his falling glasses. "We'll give you the overview, and then you and Lin-san can go over them in detail."

Naru nodded, and by skimming through the pages, he figured that the information looked promising.

Mai had left the commotion for a slight period where she'd made enough hot tea for everyone in the room. Serving Yasuhara, Madoka, and Masako – the only other who wanted a refill – Mai sat next to the monk, and gave her full attention.

Madoka pressed down her skirt before pointing up a finger. "Well to start off, we looked into Saito Shouji and Neya Sachiko, when they were believed to have gotten together and such – but I assume that you already have that information." With a slight pause, she raised a second finger and continued as if sharing a light-hearted conversation. "Then Yasuhara learned of something that he thought was interesting."

Yasuhara took that as his cue and continued. "I did." He placed both hands upon his knees, his usual spirited air replaced by seriousness. "When I spoke with one of Sachiko's classmates, he told me of another name that hadn't been noted before."

Mai and Naru both became alert to what he was about to say. No doubt, it was what Mai had mentioned before. Good for you Yasuhara-kun Mai thought.

"Sara?" Naru questioned. When Yasuhara gave him a questioning glance, Naru shook his head. "We don't have anything on her however."

"Ah, I see. Sara Lawrence. She was a half –on her father's side I believe – and close friends with Sachiko and Tanaka Haru." He coughed lightly in one hand. "Even though she had been close friends with Neya Sachiko, we'd thought her death to be irrelevant to the case. However, we compared dates and found out that her car accident had occurred only a few months before Shouji-kun committed suicide."

"Was it suicide as well?" John asked.

Yasuhara gave a shrug in reply, almost an apologetic gesture. "Truth be told, suicide was in question for a while, but then she would have had no obvious reason to do so. Pressure, relationship problems, eventually it was put off as a tragic accident."

Madoka re-entered the conversation with a mysterious voice. "That got me too, two deaths in the same pact of friends, only months apart? And then Sachiko committed suicide."

"It certainly is suspicious." Ayako whispered more to herself than as a shared thought.

Naru stood quietly, processing the information. He suggested a possibility: "There could have been a secret going on around them – but what?"

That question came too early for anyone to have an answer. It only led to more questions – more possibilities.

John asked with a disturbed tone. "What if it was a suicide pact?"

"But is there a possibility that Tanaka Haru would know something?" Bou-san questioned, receiving nods of agreement from around the group. His face wore a look of uncertainty. "She is the only one who's still alive that knows more than what anyone else could give us."

"And someone that could know more about Sara-san." Mai added. The meaning of the music box, the reason why she'd been the one who'd been alone with Sara and Shouji at one point…

Then the notebook flashed in her mind and Mai remembered – she knew details that no one else yet knew.

...

She watched as the others were speaking of private matters. It didn't really matter to her, as long as it didn't involve her assistance. It helped to have the knowledge, but then again, Naru told everyone what to do or not to do, so there was no need to over-think things too early. Masako took her cup of tea, within her fingers, and gently swirled the contents of the cup, watching with slight interest as the tealeaves floated back down to the bottom.

"Hara-san?"

The young medium looked up at the light mention of her name. "Yes?"

John bit his lip lightly in thought. "What did you feel when you went through the visions in the library?" He realized the mistake in his question, and rubbed the back of his neck with an apology. "I mean, did you sense any of the spirit's emotions?"

She thought silently to herself, wondering why it really mattered. She looked up at the priest next to her and nodded. "I suppose…There was an emotion from a girl that I found slightly odd."

This seemed to catch his attention. John gave her a serious look that didn't match up with his face, he leaned in, encouraging her to continue. Masako obliged.

"Instead of anger, hate or thoughts of revenge, I noticed fear."

"…" _Fear_? John hadn't been expecting that. Almost every time it was either a vengeful spirit or one with sadness that couldn't move on. "Was it a –"

Before he could question anything, Madoka cut off their discussion, poking her head in curiously. She eyed them both, before asking with an innocent tone, "What are you two whispering about?"

"Eh –" John started. He shook his head and slightly leaned away from the brilliantly glowing smile. "Nothing too important."

Masako nodded silently in agreement.

Naru gathered everyone's attention by looking at each person. When things had settled, and their eyes were on the boss, the young man decided to finalize the night.

"As of the information received today –"

"Wait." A small voice spoke out to his right. Naru looked down at Mai, seated neatly upon a chair while absentmindedly tapping her knee with a finger. He looked at her and saw troubled eyes.

"What is it?" He'd asked before, and she'd mentioned Sara. Perhaps this time too she'd have something useful.

Mai seemed to be stumbling on her own words, not sure what or how to say something. Then after a deep breath, she uttered out two beginning words. "A notebook or more like a sort of diary." She held in her breath as she tried to ignore the numerous pairs of eyes on her. "It belonged to Neya Sachiko."

"What?"

There was a moment of shock where everyone gasped, and the swivel of Lin's chair, followed by Bou-san getting to his feet. There were tens of things that he could have asked right then, but Ayako hushed him up.

"Where?" Only one strong voice was quick enough to demand the question. Lin was already up on his feet, closing the distance between him self, and the young girl.

Slowly, Mai reached for her backpack that she'd readied beside her feet. She reached in, and pulled out the green book.

"How long have you had it?" The older man's voice was disparaging. Mai turned her gaze.

"It's been…a week."

That was when he realized the true intentions of her sneaking off to the library. Naru seemed to be drilling holes into Mai's head without mercy and she knew that this time she clearly deserved them. There were no sharp comments she could say to defend herself.

"Where did you even find that thing?" Yasuhara inquired.

A look of realization came over her face. Mai found herself remembering back a week ago to her time in the classroom, telling ghostly tales, and then Shouji's face.

_"That," Shouji pointed, "Doesn't belong to you. How did you find it?"_

_"I found it a week ago at an old library. I wanted to use it as a notebook or something, but I don't want to use it now because it has no lines. I'd mess up the nice pages." Michiru thought a while before holding it out in front of her. "Want it Mai?"_

Her voice came out from a distance. "…From a friend."

...

_Ring… ring…ring…_

"Oh for once, pick up when I need you to Michiru." Mai whispered edgily, as if threatening the phone would increases the chances. It was odd; Michiru was never away without her cell close in hand.

Another 30 seconds passed by before a voice started playing on the other line. Hi, I'm not available at the moment…

"Mou…" She groaned. Mai waited until the beep and started to speak. "Michiru, ah…it's me, Mai…." She breathed to slow down and calm her voice. "You see, it's about the notebook that you gave me a week ago in the classroom. You said you'd found it at an old library, and I wanted to ask you some questions about it." Mai waited, hoping that her friend would pick up before the message would end. "It's urgent, so call me back as soon as possible…bye."

She hung up with a sad smile.

...

"You should have mentioned it sooner you know."

Mai blushed as she realized she'd been caught pouting. "But–"

"No, no buts." Bou-san shook a finger at the girl, once again looking towards the notebook that was now lightly resting in Naru's hands.

He hadn't made any efforts to look inside of it yet.

"…So it's just a normal diary of the deceased girl." Madoka finished. She was the expert out of the whole team. "It'll be fine if someone else reads it."

Without waiting for anyone this time, the boss looked at the green cover, held it in his hands for a spilt second, and gently turned it. His eyes dilated slightly. He turned over a few pages and then shut it tightly, looking up.

"It's blank."

"What?" Mai briskly walked to him and took the notebook in his hands. True to his word, the pages were as white and blank as it had been the first time Mai had seen it. She turned it over this way and that, but nothing happened and the girl helplessly looked up at Naru. "Are you serious?"

Without an answer to the obvious question, Naru turned away. "Lin."

He was already picking through sheets of pages, knowing what the command was going to be.

"Give Miss Tanaka a call. We can still ask her valuable questions that only she would know the answers to."

The man nodded an affirmative and the rest of the SPR team waited patiently in their seats. If they could bring her in again and have another interrogation, perhaps she knew of this diary as well.

They weren't able to contact her.

Tanaka Haru had gone missing.

**To Be Continued…**

Sayuri's back from Kato city! My goodness was it humid. The Bon Dori festival was interesting, we danced along with our fans and my host family gave me and my friend yukatas! Well anyway...

Please review!


	7. Chapter 7 The Missing Victim

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

Thanks so much for the alerts/favs! To those who reviewed(in no order): Moon-Daisuki, AngelMiko289, Miss Koneka, Azamiko, MimoriFanForever(thanks for the PM!), Lewnuhhkau, Nene Cabayes, Raijutei-no-babylon, Sw33t-S0ft-M3l0dy, simplyelena, Kyia Star, gigixx, Voldemortsgrl, melissa1995, LifesABitchToMe, icygirl2, Rozen-angel, MidnightShinobi, Shyper-ness, Faerex, DazzlemeRose, NephieChan, Micati and Lady Light - Much love to all!

**Previously**:

"_Give Miss Tanaka a call. We can still ask her valuable questions that only she would know the answers to."_

_The man nodded an affirmative and the rest of the SPR team waited patiently in their seats. If they could bring her in again and have another interrogation, perhaps she knew of this diary as well._

_But they weren't able to contact her._

_Tanaka Haru had gone missing._

(Whispering Pages)  
Chapter 7: The Missing Victim

**June 15****th**** – Morning **

"Young women don't just disappear into thin air." Madoka reassured for the 5th time. "She's gone _temporarily_ _missing_ – not the work of any spirits."

"That risky thinking is quite unlike you." Naru's look was serious and one with anger. "The timing is too strange – "

"And we can't deduct the possibilities of her being led away by a spirit." Ayako mentioned darkly. "It's happened in our cases before where the person was possessed by a restless soul."

Mai was the only one silent throughout the flirting by conversation, still flipping through the pages of the notebook – but far more calmly than before – trying to make sense of the blank pages. _No more haunted words to read…_

John was drumming the fingers of one hand upon a knee, with the other under his chin in silent thought. His blue cheerful eyes were no longer smiling, but concentrated and pinpointed at the notebook Mai was holding. His eyes widened after hearing Ayako's comment.

"_It's happened in our cases before where the person was possessed by a restless soul."_

"Um…" After the attention was on him, John spoke his statement slowly, as to make a suggestion and let it sink in. "What if she _was_ possessed and taken away…" John eyed the notebook a moment before continuing, "Because a spirit didn't want her to reveal anything?"

Everyone started in union. "Eh?"

It made sense, however creepy it made them feel. Naru and the others thought back when spirits had acted upon their own from moving objects to actually bringing harm upon people. Naru also had a nagging feeling about the diary…

"As in…as in _ridding_ of Tanaka-san before she can say anything?" Takigawa questioned.

Lin-san spoke. "Most likely, though it's only a hypothesis. There are, after all, more than one spirit on this campus."

"But…what about the diary?" Mai muttered, though everyone heard quite clearly. It was starting to frighten her, madden her that the words had disappeared. Had it temporarily shown her its secrets only for her eyes? Her mind was a mixed mess.

She'd set in down on the coffee table in front of her and left it there for all to see. After a moment, the thud of hands clapping onto clothes sounded dully. Madoka stood with a light smile that exerted optimism.

"Well, things won't get solved with us sitting here just _thinking_." She stood while also hoisting Yasuhara to his feet with her. "Well let's go partner."

"Partner, she says." Bou-san laughed.

Yasuhara casually pushed up his glasses with a smile. "We'll be back after we're done gathering some information about Tanaka Haru's disappearance."

"Some interrogation might give us clues as to where she went." Madoka added with a number of nods. In a couple of strides they were at the door, ready to leave.

Ayako had been nudging the side of Bou-san's arm the whole time Madoka and Yasuhara had been talking. After a silent argument, Bou-san sighed with defeat. "We'll go back to our posts at the dorms too. Anything else that might happen would be better if we were there to record it."

"And Hara-san and I can search out any areas with high spiritual auras." John added with a tight nod. Masako eyed Naru carefully.

"I can do that."

With a nod from Naru, they took their leave. Mai was still waving when they closed the door behind them. Then the motion stopped in mid-air. _Eh? I'm alone with Naru. Ah! What do I do?_

All too soon the room became bare, and Naru, Lin and Mai were the ones left behind. Well, Lin didn't get to count. Mai knew from the regular rhythmic sounds of typing that he would become death to access noise surrounding him. So, technically, it was her and Naru.

The young man had a hand to his pressed lips in a tentative manner. Honestly, even if it were Mai, her actions had been nonsensical. She could have gotten hurt, trapped…And he couldn't help but feel that it would have been his fault if such things had happened. Even after two years of scolding, her habits hadn't changed any.

Mai could see his lips start to form words and she readied herself for whatever was to come.

"Be careful from now on." His smooth voice emitted into the room. Mai was surprised by it. Had she heard right? She watched quietly as he lightly pulled at the collar of his white button up shirt. Head lightly tilted to one side, Mai decided to take advantage of his kindness.

"Okay." There was a short hesitation before adding, "I'm sorry."

Lin paused a millisecond before re-gaining his normal typing speed. He started over with less vigor in his task.

As she would have guessed, his dark eyes – not as piercing as before – fell upon her with a look of a parent warning their child. "It's in the past and what's happened is done. Besides, you'll be making up for it soon enough."

"I – eh?" That didn't sound the least bit comforting or safe. Mai uneasily cocked her head. "I don't understand what you mean–"

Naru turned around and Mai could swear that she saw a gleam in his usually emotionless eyes. "I have a special project for you."

...

"_Wait_."

The monk turned, a scowl upon his face, and slightly lowered the cardboard box in his arms. "What is it? Scared?" His voice held irritation. He'd added the last part due to his rising temper.

She crossed her arms. "What's with you?

"What is it?" He asked again, this time turning towards her. Ayako drew a worried face that calmed him the slightest bit. Her eyes weren't on his, but the box that was now being lowered onto the table beside her.

"Shouldn't we…" As if angered by realizing how defenseless she sounded, Ayako drew her brows like her old self. "Maybe everyone should watch them with us."

"We don't have _time_ to gather everyone again and set things up. The two of us is enough. And besides…" Takigawa looked up at the exact moment when the doors to the lobby drew open. A dark figure walked in and came to view under the few turned on lights of the room.

Ayako unfolded her arms with unexpected surprise. "Naru."

"He'll be good enough to make up for everyone." The monk finished, fishing out a tape from the box and checking its date. He slipped it out of its case and pushed it into the VCR.

Naru had come around the table and had taken the seat directly in front of the screen. Ayako and Takigawa took another video of the same day, but of a different part of the campus. Naru fingered through the box, and seeing that the videos were already grouped together by date, began to give out his usual orders.

"Lin is already re-watching the recordings of inside the buildings back at the base with the help of John and Masako – the two of which are watching from the gymnasium. They have a less number of videos to watch because the only buildings where we put up cameras were the first floor of this lobby, the main entrances of each other building, and the two cameras on each floor of the library." Naru said rather plainly. Ayako and Bou-san listened closely, even to the information that they already knew.

"Due to the bookshelves in the library, we spaced out two cameras so that as much of the floor could be seen. However this isn't important for us because – " He stopped here to tap the 'play' button upon the remote controller that was in his light grasp. " – We'll be watching the videos that were placed around the buildings and outside the buildings."

The miko widened her eyes. "Eh? Cameras observing the campus?"

"When did you do that?" Takigawa asked, surprised as Ayako was.

Naru pressed 'pause.' "You and Matsuzaki-san arrived a day after Lin, Mai and I arrived at the campus." His dark eyes gleamed up at the monk with a look that said, 'of course.' "We decided to add extra precautions this time."

This time when he pressed 'play', Ayako and Takigawa observed the screen and saw that they were watching the main entrance to the school, where a car passed by every now and then.

"There are two other screens to watch from." Naru said. He handed Ayako and Takigawa two videos each. "Watch those. Matsuzaki-san's videos are those surrounding _this_ building – one at the entrance and the other at the back door. Takigawa-san, yours are ones around the library.

The young man leaned back in his seat with a sort of comfort. "I have two videos myself, located at the main entrance of the campus and a wide-range view of the paths to and from the base to the library. We did not start recording the day we set the cameras up, but the day after – the 12th. Today's the 15th."

_24 videos in all_

Naru started his own tape again and leaned forward with intent eyes, his hands curling together under his chin. "Let's start."

...

_Tap tap tap tap tap…sigh_

"Taniyama-san –"

"I'm sorry." Her voice was deadpanned.

Lin knew it was unnatural for him to do so so often, but he sighed out loud. Her unnecessarily loud tapping on the keyboard was starting to annoy him more than Naru's pen tapping. That's a _lot_ of loud tapping.

Mai copied the older man's reaction with a tease and looked back up at the bright screen, half-filled with minuscule black letters. She couldn't complain because it'd been her fault for keeping quiet about the notebook for so long. But even so…

"_Just because you were the only who was able to read part of the diary doesn't mean that this doesn't or won't have any more value." Naru gave the green notebook in his hand a light shake. The pages fluttered a bit and drooped down. "Do you remember what you read?"_

"_Mm." Well, of course she did._

"_What about any important details?" _

"…_Well…there were some things that were biased, but also information t-that were facts…" Why was she feeling so pressed by these questions? As soon as Naru had asked her, suddenly words from the notebook she'd read came swarming back in a mix. _

_Naru leaned down a bit so that he could look Mai eye to eye, with the diary watching beside them. He eyed the green cover and then her dark eyes. "You were the only one that was able to read this." He said again. _

_She stared at him, trying to read into his thoughts. Naru wasn't one to repeat things. _

"_Here."_

_The notebook was held up as an offering to her. It remained in the air for a second before Mai hurriedly took it. _

"_Eh?" She turned it over in her hands and felt the cool roughness of the binding. "Why give it back to me?"_

_Naru paused at the doorway, and turned towards her one last time. "I'll tell you the special project that I'd mentioned." He watched as she nodded intently, giving him all ears. "Lin will provide you with a laptop. Try and remember everything that you'd read – even things that she'd written with emotion could be important. Put quotation marks around direct phrases you remember or bold words that you thought were important. _

_Mai was speechless for a moment. "Then…you want me to re-record what I read in the notebook?" Before Naru could reply, she drove into a sort of panic mode. "But…but it's really a fuzzy memory now, I don't think I'll be able to remember the dates or exact phrases I'd read…"_

_With only a look that allowed no disagreement, he left the room._

He hadn't said, "At least you're safe." Or, "I don't want to get hurt." But the words he'd spoken to her with pure encouragement had truly given her the push.

_Do your best. I know you'll remember._

She was somewhat disappointed that this was her job, but knew that it was something that only she could accomplish this time. Naru and the others would be counting on her to record the information that could contain crucial information to solving this case. A chance to be really useful.

Slowly, as Naru had said, the words began to reform themselves and grow clearer each time she thought back, allowing her to add more and more detail. Neya Sachiko's words were bursting alive again, a voice that was whispering into Mai's ears –the secret basement, the librarian's words of encouragement, her meetings with Shouji, Sara and Haru, her despair…

A half hour passed.

Then a thought came into Mai's mind. She stopped in the midst of her recording when the words _Shouji_ and _library_ had been typed down together.

_That was it!_

Why couldn't Naru come with her to the library for once? Every time she'd had the notebook with her, Shouji would be consistently there. If Naru could have time with Shouji, she was sure that he would have a much more efficient talk with him than she could have produced so far.

She felt like such an idiot for not thinking of such a thing the first time she'd seen him and found out his name. Shouji was…different from any other spirits she'd met or seen. He actually **spoke** to her.

With a determined raise of her fist, Mai raged out to track down Naru near the dormitories so quickly that Lin called out after her with worry.

...

"Naru!"

The sound of tapping footsteps followed the opening '_whoosh'_ of the glass doors. The three that were at their seats looked up in union and each with different reactions. Ayako and Takigawa were worried or indifferent, but it was Naru's voice that raised above.

"What are you doing back here?" Naru demanded with a hard voice, close to yelling.

"Eh?" Mai hesitated, her eyes darting away from his for a spilt second and angrily opening her wordless mouth in defense. He didn't need to be so upset. "W-well, it's important!"

He stood and placed both hands upon the table in front of him. "Did you finish what I asked you to do?"

"Oi, Naru." Sensing an argument, the monk stood to the girl's defense. "Maybe she had another dream or something."

Mai sweat-dropped. Another dream would have meant that she'd fallen asleep – which wasn't the case.

Naru looked towards the girl for a confirmation, but she shook her head.

"This is important though – regarding the library." Mai drew her features together in a way that showed all seriousness. "Come with me, Naru."

He was surprised if not irritated at her sudden command. But looking into her eyes, he could see the familiar spark that he knew wouldn't be settled unless she had her way. Her intuitions again? Possibly but it couldn't hurt… But if the two of them went alone, he knew that their situation could turn risky.

"It's alright." She suddenly said as if she'd read his mind. "This time…we'll be safe. I'm sure of it."

He didn't question her of her confidence but decided to listen. Disregarding the monk's words of caution, Naru and Mai walked out towards the library together with speed.

...

Ayako shook her head with a raised brow. "Geez, that girl." She said with light amusement.

She had soon restarted her tape when she heard sounds of colliding objects and the rustle of a cardboard box. She paused her video and turned around to see the monk pulling out a separate tape that had the label 'June 13th' in Mai's handwriting.

"Wait…what are you doing?"

Takigawa took Naru's previous seat and popped in the tape without answer. He pressed play and began to fast forward twice as slowly. Not to be ignored without an answer, the miko stood behind the man and leaned over.

"I asked –"

"I think it'd be best to check this tape first." He answered without looking back at her. His fingers either sped up the viewing or slowed it down at certain times. "Tanaka Haru disappeared after we interviewed her – the twelfth. Also the library was the most suspicious building here – I think we should take that into consideration."

Somewhat impressed at his thinking, Ayako nodded. "I see." She reached for her own chair and sat beside him, thoughtlessly drawing a fallen hair strand away from her face. Her eyes went up to the top of the screen and eyed the time. It was 8 AM and within the blink of an eye, _8:05_.

It went on until the time of the tape was _3:35_ in the afternoon. The camera showed the library building's bare back, shadows growing and falling off the widows on the first and second floor changing with passing time.

_8:55_. The sun was beginning to set and they could see that everything was a lighter gray.

"Wait!" Ayako's yell startled the monk and he pressed play, going back a couple of minutes. She watched intently, silently with a held breath. "Wait…"

"Do you see something?" He asked eagerly.

Pushing the man aside, she centered herself to the screen and squinted carefully. Snatching the control, she watched for a few minutes, and then went back to _8:57_. What she could see, Ayako wasn't sure if it was her tired eyes forming false images or not. The blurred gray made it seem like merely a shadow…

"Can you make this any clearer?"

"Uh..." Takigawa glanced across the controls set across the panel and found a small black dial. He spun it gently and soon the images on the screen had much more definite lines.

"Now play frame by frame from the 40s mark."

After following her instructions, once again the miko priestess watched the screen. Her eyes widened. There was no mistake.

"What do you see?" The monk asked, desperate to have some idea. "Is it Tanaka-san?"

Ayako hesitantly shook her head. "I…don't think so. But it gives me the creeps." She said with a shudder. Straightening up, she walked to the nearby wall and switched off the lights. The small screen, the only illuminating object, now radiated an eerie tainted white. "Here, watch."

And following her orders he did just that. At first, he didn't know where to be looking but he suspected that Ayako wasn't telling him because she thought she was just seeing things. He re-watched it a third time, focusing upon the building. A few seconds passed and suddenly he jolted in his seat.

"Near the windows!"

Ayako lowered her fingers from her lips. "As I thought…"

He could see it too. At exactly _8:56_ and 45 seconds, contrasted upon the gray windows appeared a thin, black form. It was a vertical shadow that stood without much movement. Then as if it'd found a purpose, the form started traveling slowly with shuffling movements across the window's glass. But there was no one there. Soon it stopped after reaching a few feet from the edge of the right side of the building. It grew in width as if the figure was turning around. Two bright dots appeared where a face should have been, and then it disappeared as if it were a cloud of released smoke.

...

They were standing at the all too familiar area of the library. The filled bookshelves welcomed the two visitors in with looming shadows. The table surrounded with forlorn chairs and out looking window added to the gloomy absence of the building.

Immediately he could sense the other – a dark and chilling cloud near the window. However, he couldn't see anyone or anything to place the trepidation on. When he looked over to the girl beside him, Naru eyed her carefully. Obviously she saw something – a spirit perhaps. He could feel the presence growing. Irritation started to rise with the fact that _he_ couldn't see anything while _she_ could.

Indeed, Mai had already turned to the regular position where she'd find him standing. At first nothing, but then slowly an outline emerged from thin air and soon the forces waiting in the atmosphere formed itself.

_Shouji_

Seeing Naru and then Shouji made Mai understand the true resemblance between the two men. They both had that strange distinguishing air and were enigmas. Mai looked at the now materializing spirit and gave a short nod. Instinctively as if it were an item to protect, Mai pressed the notebook towards her chest.

Immediately, Shouji leaned again the wall and glanced sideways out the window beside him. "That man can't see me."

"No way." Mai could see him perfectly, right there! "But that's the only reason why I came back here – so that Naru could speak to you."

Shouji stared at her as if it wondering why this should be any of his problems. With a jolt of anger, Mai failed to see what could possibly be liked about the guy.

"Mai." The girl turned to her boss who had narrowed his eyes, turning from her to the area on the wall where she'd just spoken too. He spoke without missing a beat to what was going on. "Who do you see?"

After a breath of silence, Mai answered, "Sato Shouji."

There was a pause before his answer, which made her realize how surprised Naru was of the situation. He also seemed to be much on edge of things than usual. Somehow, her boss's features seemed disheveled. Mai kept from saying anything else until she was given orders.

"You've seen him before." Again, he knew this was the case without having her answer. Naru focused on the rough mist and felt his mind mold out a face, similar to the one he'd seen on a newspaper clipping. Might as well make use of the situation. "Can he tell us anything of Tanaka Haru's disappearance?"

"I can't." The other man had his eyes on the notebook, causing Mai some discomfort. Aware of her reaction, he continued. "But I can assume where she could be."

"Where?"

He made no answer, just kept his eyes on the green book. Mai took a step back. Why wouldn't he meet her eyes? Her gaze fell to the book itself_. Is the answer in here? I've already read it so…think Mai_.

Then as if in a dream, sudden flashes of images she'd never seen passed over her eyes. An array of trees and bushes, a patch of earth, a dark opening and stone steps, a wall of red…Mai felt strong hands on either side of her and she was back in the library, standing between Naru and Shouji. Naru gave her a small shake and loosened his grip.

"Are you alright?"

But she could barely register what he'd said, for a phrase from the notebook re-read itself in her mind.

_That place. The secret corner we'd discovered and left for our secrets and times of gathered seclusion._

Of course! It made sense. "Could it be…"

He understood that she'd realized. "Girl – I never re-found that base by myself. I need you to look for it."

"Mai." She corrected on impulse. "My name's Mai."

Was she still in a daze? Naru wasn't sure how the discussion was going, but he could feel Shouji's presence starting to weaken. "You don't have enough time for that." He snapped impatiently.

She whispered an apology. "Can't you come with us? Show us where it is?"

He shook his head. "I'm bound to the library. I died falling from it, but I can't seem to leave this place – it's where I spent most of my time…with her." He looked up, freezing her breath with his stare. "I've already tried to leave."

Then just like last time, Shouji's figure became dream-like, a wavering illusion. She saw his lips move silently one last time, but his voice rang with an echo inside her head.

_Save Sachiko…4-8-2_

Honestly, she was a magnet for trouble.

Naru replaced a hand on her forehead, but seeing her steady breath and calm features, he knew that she'd just fallen unconscious and asleep. After Shouji had disappeared altogether, Mai had sighed as if a burden had been lifted and had collapsed into his arms.

He repeated her name several times, but accepted with a dejected sigh that she wasn't going to wake. His eyes fell to the notebook tight in her grasp and he took it away. Uncomfortably positioning the book in one hand, Naru shifted the sleeping girl onto his back and made his way through the maze-like shelves to the open.

Wordlessly, he walked out of the library and headed back towards the base. All the while she remained sleeping upon his broad, warm back. She could hear a voice in her head, one that she'd never heard before but felt so familiar with.

_Shouji…I'm scared._

**Next Day – The 16****th**** 8:30 AM**

"Last seen by any of her friends was on the 12th. After the interrogation, she'd returned to her apartment where her roommate was waiting. Then her friend said that Tanaka Haru left without a word at precisely 7 PM and stayed out all night. She didn't return the next morning and no one could contact her." Masako passed on the sheet of paper to Naru and took the next from Yasuhara's hands.

Naru directed his question towards his former mentor. "And that was when they considered her to be missing?"

"It seems so."

Yasuhara shook another piece of paper to attract attention. "Today would be her fourth day 'missing.' " There was a dialogue typed up that he skimmed over. "Her roommate said that she'd been behaving strangely – she hardly spoke and when she did it was a whisper. 'Haru said she had to go somewhere after a sudden gleam in her eyes and left without her phone, purse or an explanation.' " He read.

Everyone carefully processed the information, hopefully thinking that there could be a missed clue or indication of a hidden motive to Tanaka Haru's actions.

Mai was still asleep so asking her about the conversation with Shouji would have to wait. Naru was half-tempted to go and wake her himself. Such thoughts were getting to his clear thinking and was putting him in a grumpy mood that seemed to radiate off rather strongly.

Within the last 45 minutes since everyone had gathered at the base, with no breakfast or tea, Madoka and Yasuhara had arrived with their reports and Ayako had shared the strange video. Both were quite unsettling pieces of newly acquired information.

Naru didn't mention the possibility that it could be Shouji's figure that was seen lurking across the windows. He wasn't planning on sharing that information to the others unless a necessary situation came up. However, for some reason he doubted that it was the deceased boy.

"We can't just assume that –" But his words were cut off short. A sharp tap sounded from one end of the room. Without a reply, the door opened to show the face of a familiar girl smile up at everyone.

"I'm sorry," she said abashedly. "I've slept in. Yasuhara-kun, Madoka-san, you've arrived already!"

"Good morning Mai." Madoka said with a smile. Yasuhara imitated the actions.

Naru turned towards her with an air of business. "Mai. You missed on most of the newly acquired information…" he and the others showed and explained to her what had happened the last near hour of her absence.

The video held her attention the most. Sudden flickers of images flirted through her head again, and the eerie voice whispering the numbers, _4-8-2_.

"Mai, what's wrong?" Takigawa asked.

Before more time could be wasted…

"There's a place that had been mentioned in the diary. It's a place where Sachiko-san and Haru-san had gone to sneak away once in a while." Mai continued despite the questioning faces. "It's highly possible that the place will have a clue. Wait! I had typed that part out for Naru. Lin-san, could I please see that laptop again…"

_That place. It'd been left for us I know it. The secret corner we'd discovered and left for our secrets and times of gathered seclusion. Now another knows it. Well, at least it's someone that I can trust._

_She knew that he loved places that that, knew that he'd want to check it out. _

_Maybe that's why she mentioned it? _

_But now he wants to go and see it and discover with us. _

"_Sachiko, we'll have a fun time." Shouji had insisted with a small smile. _

"_Yes, let's go." _

_I'd been surprised. "Now?" I'd asked with oncoming anxiousness. "You'll be seen."_

"_Then tonight. Tonight meet at the front of the library. You come too Sachiko." Shouji had said._

_Shouji had never been this exited in a long time and I couldn't find the heart in me to refuse. _

_But the look that Haru made had me thinking that she didn't want me to tag along. It was a look that confused me. _

_So later we did meet up at the front of the library, late at night. Tracking to the back and through the bushes until we reached the spot. I must write it down or I will forget: 4-8-2._

_It's nothing spectacular, but when Haru and I had first found the place, we'd known that the spot had been abandoned for forgotten about for years – dust had whitened every surface and cobwebs had hung from the corners of the underground room. We'd committed the next few days in dusting, spraying out bugs and tidying up the empty space. _

_Even entering was a bit of a trick. Just when you thought that your feet would meet the floor, it was a short but startling drop. _

_The room wasn't tall enough for us to stand up in, but we only needed to bend our heads over slightly to walk around, 6 by 5 steps large._

"You're sure Mai?"

"It's not going to hurt to try." But she did know that she was right. Tanaka-san _had_ to be around the library.

After a quick briefing, everyone headed towards the library, though from last times experience, it was a frightening feeling. They couldn't help but let the question form in their heads.

What if Haru-san was there? What would it prove?

"4-8-2."

Yasuhara looked from the printed out paper to Mai's staring face. "What does that mean? She didn't want to forget it."

Mai had already thought it out. Shouji's words and the visions that had appeared were starting to make sense.

"Could it be the measurements to this _basement_?"

"Eh?" Mai was surprised at the voice that had spoken the words she'd been planning to say. Especially towards the person who'd said it. She raised a shoulder with curiosity. "Masako! How did you know?"

Her peer eyed the grounds and slowly walked towards the left corner of the building. "Obviously they're measurements." She replied. Oh that tone of hers.

"It's just the matter of knowing what type of measurements and why they are three separate numbers – 4-8-2." John concluded with a firm nod.

Ayako, with a hand on her hip, added on to the discussion. "Then, feet or meters?"

"I guess we'll have to see."

So with that settled, the measuring and searching began. Many bushes and plants had grown over the years, obscuring the view of the ground near the library. Dead leaves littered the ground and the SPR ground soon came to realize how much of a manual labor it would be. Half an hour went by with a small amount of progress.

Another 15 minutes later, Naru had returned to share some news.

"Lin checked the blueprints stored in documentation of the school's background and…" He nodded as he raised a copy of the said document. "There was no basement in the original print."

Which meant that it had been made after the campus had opened, and made secretly. Sounds of annoyance and realization rose. Mai's suspicions and guesses were hitting the mark. She started thinking back to the words she'd re-typed when the monk tapped her shoulder.

"Mai."

"Yeah?"

"Did Sachiko by any chance hint what type of measurements or any other ways to get to the basement?"

Mai, having been coincidentally thinking of the same thing, spoke outloud. "Well, not when she'd written, 'I must write it down so I will not forget: 4-8-2.' But – " _Ah!_

The monk noticed her hesitation. "Mm? What's wrong?"

She turned to him with the aftermath of an epiphany. "Bou-san! It's by steps!" Her loud voice attracted Ayako, Masako and John, stopping them from their individual searching.

"Steps?" John asked, not quite understanding.

"Yes!" Mai gave an example by take two walking strides. "That was two 'steps'."

Ayako nodded, but then said, "Why though?"

"I just remembered." The words were clearly written in her mind. "Later after reaching the basement, Sachiko-san had written that the inside was '5 by 6 steps' large."

"That's it!" Bou-san said loudly.

"A strange way to measure distance." Masako stated dully, hiding her annoyance at her wasted efforts.

Ayako had already started off from the left side of the building, telling John to start from the right corner. Randomly, the miko started off, using the 4-8-2. She took 4 steps forward, then turned right 8 steps, then turned back towards the building and took 2 more…

Nothing. Well, perhaps she'd taken them too large. She started over again, this time trying not to avoid the bushes too much. Nothing. She tried again and again. The seventh try was different. At the end of her path, there was a small 'creak' sound beneath her feet. She stomped down hard and heard a dull 'thud'. Ayako hesitated from looking down. When she did, the only thing she saw beneath her feet was dirt and leaves. _Could it be…_

She pressed slowly down with her feet, and whether it was her imagination or not, Ayako thought that there was a type of hardness that couldn't be from compressed soil. She bent over, running her fingers over the dirt surrounding her. After a few brushes, she began to dig with her fingertips.

A dark brown coloring began to show through. "John! You should check this area out."

"You found it?" John exclaimed, jogging over.

The monk reached her first, whistling over Ayako's shoulder. "You've finally shown your efforts!"

"Shut up."

Mai, Masako and Naru gathered as well with anticipation. John busied himself with inspecting the area and helping Ayako dig deeper. "Shibuya-san!"

Naru leaned down, suppressing a gasp of surprise at the finding. There beneath the dirtied hands of Ayako and John was the appearing surface of a buried door. Mai dragged the access dirt as far away as possible, finding that the hinge was at the edge of the library. Finally uncovered, John hesitated before pulling at the iron handles.

"Wait!" Ayako backed away from the crowd with a look of uneasiness on her face. "We don't know what will be down there. Let's call Lin for flashlights…"

"After you."

Naru gave a half scowl before he lowered himself, steady hands on either side of the opening. John and Takigawa held up the hatch. Leaving it to lean against the building would be too risky.

Mai's voice was intertwined with worry. "Be careful Naru! There's a short drop before your feet touch the ground." She showed a light to ease his way.

"So there is."

There was the dull thud of his feet followed by light coughing. A hand reached up, to which a light was passed. Aching seconds went by where there was complete silence and anxiety.

"N-Naru!"

…A surprised sound emitted from the darkness. Hurried feet rushed to the opening and the face of Naru appeared with a look of horror that did not suit his character.

"Hurry and call the ambulance. There is a body down here!"

**To Be Continued...**


	8. Chapter 8 Identity

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

Whispering Pages  
Chapter 8: Identity

**Evening June 15th **

"Here, Naru."

The paper was taken from Mai's hands with a sharp tug. Her presence or act of assistance went unaccounted for as Naru returned to his work without so much as a glance towards her. Mai sighed dejectedly. Her boss had the worst aura she'd seen him with within the last year - a nearly unapproachable space in the room.

It had been like that for hours…

"Mai!" a low whisper sounded.

She turned around with a start and noticed the monk motioning her over with a slick hand. With one last glance at Naru, Mai walked across the room to the table where the rest of the SPR members were residing. Mingled with anger and irritation, Mai's towering stance was intimidating. Before she could open her mouth with a frowning brow, Takigawa pulled her in close by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"So…" he started quietly, carefully eyeing Lin and Naru, "What's new with the boss?"

Mai half-scowled and closed her eyes with irritation. "Why don't you go ask him yourself? Ever since we got back -"

"It's not _our _fault." Ayako hissed suddenly. Her eyes shifted uncomfortably to the window showing the dark campus below. "We want to be doing something, but it's going to be impossible to get anything out of Naru for now, and we can't leave this building!"

Bright lights of blue, white and red blinked against the dark sky. A siren was turned off and on. John stood to close the curtains and looked out before re-closing them with a sharp tug.

_Yes, we'd been confined on this floor. _Mai remembered.

The corpse had been taken away for identification by the police to a pathologist in a nearby city. They had been confined in the room - _for protection _they had said. They'd known better.

After returning to the base, everyone had been silent with thought and terror, each mind processing the events that had occurred all so suddenly. Now, several hours later with no newly acquired information, the members were getting restless.

The fast typing of Lin and Naru's shuffling sounds of paper became monotonous.

Mai had watched them, having nothing more efficient to do. She'd received no orders from Naru nor any ideas on what his next plans would be. So she'd decided to do a little investigating of her own. _It__'s strange_. She'd ended up thinking with a worried frown. She knew that it was on everyone's mind - the question that had sparked possible new threats.

_Who had called the police? _

Madoka and Yasuhara had been able to leave before 119 and the police had arrived - they were free. Lin had been at the base with no idea that they'd found a body. Naru would have definitely been against it until the case had been solved. Everyone knew how much he didn't want to be inspected or be involved with the police….which meant that there had been someone else on the campus watching their moves.

It made Mai shiver to think it.

More so, what had been strange was that with the arrival of the police, immediately they'd been treated as if they'd been the murderers.

Yes, arriving at the scene where they had found a discreetly hidden underground space and happened to find a recently dead body would seem suspicious. Especially when they'd had no evidence to how they'd found out about it. Even though Naru had been able to show and confirm the principal's letter to show that they were on a case, it had done little good. The SPR members had become prime suspects. They would be taken away the next morning around noon after everything had settled down.

But it had been all done discreetly on the cop's part. _The murderer may still be on campus Shibuya-san. _The chief officer had said. _We'll escort you to the station the next morning after we conduct a thorough search. We need you to tell us everything you know_.

Naru, being Naru, had denied that he knew nothing of importance. The finding of the trapdoor had been the work of the 'impressive detective skills of Takigawa-san.'

Then, everyone had been taken to the base. It was minutes later that they found out their phone lines had been disconnected and their internet shut off. It was a nagging feeling that Mai had. The situation was as if someone was trying to set them up. Before she could think more of it, the sudden scrapping of chair legs against the carpet sounded.

Takigawa and Ayako stopped in an argument they'd started with surprised 'oh's. John's face looked tired and stern, as did Masako's. Mai turned around to see Naru looking towards them with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"There's something I need to announce."

Naru's hard voice was like a sudden chill through the air. His gaze was enough to get everyone's attention. He leaned lightly against the table behind him, and spoke with a lowered tone. "I'm sure that you've all been wondering who had contacted the police." He paused as a couple of agreeing faces looked at him. "This case is much more than just the avenging spirits. There is definitely a person involved….possibly the murderer."

Mai bit her lip at the sudden words. Sure she'd been thinking about it, but now having Naru confirm so made her heart beast faster. Someone else was involved…and who knew how long he or she had been watching them…

"So…it wasn't the work of any spirits?" Ayako questioned with light fear mingled in her voice.

"It's too early to jump to conclusions like that, isn't it?" Takigawa asked, obviously trying to be the devil's advocate. "I mean, someone was killed, but it could be like Urado -"

"I know." Naru cut in, "Because I saw the body. It had been strangled with rope and cut with knives."

Masako shuffled in her seat, rather uncomfortable, a raised sleeve covering her face. John spoke out her name and the medium said slowly: "I did not feel any traces of spirits ever nearing the area of the spot."

"And also…" John's light voice was hard to hear. He was facing down, looking at his still dirtied hands - brown with soil. "When Matsuzaki-san and I were digging, I noticed that the soil was a slightly lighter color than it's surroundings. The trapdoor had been found before us."

They could see that it had been bothering him for quite a while.

"Then shouldn't we tell the police?" Ayako suggested loudly, landing a hand down upon the table. "Naru, if you're not going to say anything -"

"No one is stopping you."

His statement cut her off sharply. Ayako gritted her teeth and sat back down. Mai could see her anger and sighed with mixed feelings. Naru also seemed to be irritated beyond belief, now that the press were also involved…

Watching his way of behaving, Mai could see that he was drawn to this case more than he'd ever been to one. So she had a guess of what actions Naru was willing to take. Mai mustered up her courage and asked the one question she'd been wanting to ask for hours. "So what do you plan to do?"

Normally, Naru wouldn't have answered to such a direct, revealing question. However, this wasn't like any other case. Finally getting to the point, Naru looked straight at her and continued to lock eyes with his assistant as he stated the next sentence.

"You'll either have a choice to carry out this plan with me," Naru shook a number of loose papers in his right hand, "or remain in your rooms until morning and be escorted to the station by the police." Naru looked away, eyes closed as if from hiding an emotion he didn't want to share. "I don't think we have much of a choice. We are potential suspects of the murder at the moment." He paused for a moment. "Get some sleep, and gather back here at midnight if you're willing to participate."

A silent moment was drawn out. It inflated between Naru and everyone else. He looked towards Lin, motioning that this applied to the older man as well. This was different from the usual consent for departure. This time, it was the true question of loyalty.

No one said a word - instead, they got up from their seats and made their way out their door. Ayako pushed Mai along, giving the young girl a look of understanding.

Before they could retire to their rooms, Lin's hard voice stopped them one last time.

"Please be cautious to lock your doors and windows. Also remember to keep the camera on the beds." His narrowed eyes looked at each person before landing lastly on Mai. "Stay in your rooms and leave under no circumstances. If this wasn't the work of spirits, then the murder could still be on campus."

Mai swallowed hard and felt a strange chill go up her back. She promised to listen to the man.

For those next couple of hours, no one was able to sleep soundly.

...

A strange tune hummed across the sky. Her voice was carefree and sharp against the soundless, cold air. A number of the police were still patrolling the area and it looked as if they would remain the whole night. But that didn't matter as long as _they _found a way to the library. She wanted to end this. End everyone, everything…and for that, she needed to destroy that notebook.

Her voice stopped, tilting her head to a side with a sigh. A long, moonlit finger was drawing swirls upon the table they'd all used to sit at. It's surface was polished, yet dented in many areas. Words were carved into the wood.

She looked into the glass and saw her reflection smile eerily back. Beside her were two darkly clad figures. She turned, her long hair swinging around her shoulders with speed, to see nothing but shelves and books. It frightened her, before she remembered that they had always been with her. Now after so many years, a reunion was taking place.

With another smile - this one of understanding mixed into a smirk - she began to hum again, and waited.

**Three hours later - Half an hour to Midnight **

The knob turned, and the door to the base opened with a swing that revealed Mai's glowing face and the rest of the alert SPR members. With no hesitation, the young girl half-jogged, half-walked to the opposite side of the seated man. Her expression was hidden, but could be well reflected on the monk beside her - one with a calm smile and serious eyes.

No one had to speak a work to understand what was going on.

Naru put down his long chilled tea as Ayako, Masako and John trailed in behind Mai and Takigawa. Ayako had her arms crossed with a huff, but was undoubtedly willing staying.

Naru remained silent, his observing dark eyes meaningfully resting on each member. As he did so, his hands tightened upon each other. With the expressionless face of his, Naru raised his brows the slightest bit and met eyes with Lin. The Chinese man nodded…and Naru, turning his face back to his partners, smiled a short but gentle smile.

As soon as he'd displayed it, it disappeared and he was standing with the usual piercing stare.

Mai's eyes widened, and she wasn't the only one who had that reaction. Everyone looked at the young man as if he'd just called off the case with a laugh. But they quickly recovered.

"He does have a heart." Ayako whispered to Takigawa. The monk laughed at her.

"He's only a young'in still."

Ayako let out a sharp breath, signaling that she'd heard something she didn't want to. "Don't say it like that…it makes it sound as if I'm old woman evaluating the younger generation."

"Well, it's not too far from the truth."

"WHA -"

"You didn't return here to idly chat did you?" Naru was still Naru Mai laughed to herself.

Takigawa, glad of the young man's save, walked away from the fuming miko who had raised a hand for a prepared strike. John raised a hand in the air and slowly lowered it, palm down. _Calm yourself Matsuzaki-san, it's only Takigawa-san after all_, he was saying silently with an uneasy smile.

And right off the bat, Naru said: "Lin doesn't approve of a number of us sneaking to the library because it could be a trap set by the murderer...but decided to help us out." He shrugged his shoulders, sending slight movement to the long black jacket he was wearing. "I know it is unlike myself to get so involved in a case that doesn't involve just spirits, but something unusual is occurring within the library."

_And Mai is going to attend here with no hopes that she'll be accepted to another school so late into the year…_

"But," Ayako started, "We're stuck in here."

Naru looked at her without worry. "However, the doors leading out aren't locked in case there is an emergency. So, I have a plan that I would like to share with you."

...

Officer Haruto was puzzled in more than one way.

He was, by no means, superstitious. However, the intensity of the young man's words were still ringing in his mind with a strange presence.

_Do you honestly ask us to believe that the death of the woman had been the cause of some **spirits**? There's no such thing. This was homicide; murder – and the culprit is on the loose, possibly still near the scene of the crime. We also have orders to keep you all within sight until we can make sure you guys aren't guilty. Because you have no alibis that anyone else can backup..._

That was what he'd replied back. However, the situation was strange. The call he'd received had been oddly calm and informative, and upon arriving at the scene, the caller had been no where to be found. The members had insisted that none of them had been the ones to do so.

Haruto, so intent with thought, nearly jumped when the radio attached to his side buzzed with static. He answered to the voice stating both his location and current report. Nothing yet. Tossing a casual glance up to the fourth story of the main building, Haruto's mind yet once again fell back to the SPR. He'd heard of them more than once. And yes, heard of what they had _supposedly_ done.

But once, he'd heard it from people who'd seen the SPR in action. At a large house by the sea…

A young man had witnessed strange spirits and the possession of other family members. Haruto had been there to gather the dead bodies, the ending results of the case. This story had kept Haruto's attention wrapped around the man's every word. His body had been locked in still frame but his mind's eye had ran free, fascinated with this new, darkened side of the spiritual world suddenly at his disposal beneath the starlit sky.

Of course, afterwards he'd thought it all completely absurd. The deaths had been suicide, and only that.

He noticed the lights of the room go out and he dropped his gaze to the campus around him. Most of the chaos had died down hours ago, and now he and a few others were keeping watch for anything suspicious. Haruto was easing his shoulder of pain when an officer standing at one side of the library caught his attention.

What was that man thinking? He was too close to a closed of area and already stalling off course.

"Oy!" Haruto coughed and raised his voice. "Where do you think you're -"

The man was off and running before Haruto could finish his sentence.

"Hey!" His yelling voice had already attracted the attention of the other officers nearby. They turned and immediately spotted the suspicious man, making way towards the entrance.

"After him!"

They ran off with the rush of adrenaline and not stopping to think. Haruto failed to give out orders for a couple of men to stay put, thus failing to notice seven shadows blending into the night, silently running towards the library and dorms.

...

"Ahh…that was risky." Takigawa heaved, panting sharply from the sudden sprinting.

Mai nodded in agreement though he didn't see it, catching her breath much more quickly. She ran a hand across her chilled forehead and looked backwards. "Do you think Ayako and Masako made it to the dorms well?"

"We would have heard some commotion if they had." Naru reassured softly. He closed the door of the library and locked it with the spare keys he'd received from the principal. Carefully he slid them into his pants pockets and ordered the others to quickly follow. He and Lin disappeared into the shelves of books.

"John," Mai whispered, trailing behind her boss. "Make sure Bou-san doesn't die of a heart attack."

"Oy, I'm not that old."

The monk's voice was lost as the priest nodded at the girl, giving a sheepish smile. Lucky for them, Mai's cell phone began to ring.

"Right on time." Mai said as she handed it over to Naru.

He slid the top part open and raised the phone to his ear, listening carefully. His expression made it seem like they had all the time in the world. "Thanks Madoka." Naru raised his eyebrows with a satisfied glint in his eye. "It went well."

...

Haruto watched as the men in front of him caught up to the running officer. He was brought down roughly to the ground, and Haruto realized that the man was not fighting back. He wondered if the other men noticed that something was a bit off. The man only grunted as he was being cuffed and his glasses were crushed, cutting shards into the bridge of his nose.

Haruto grunted with approval. He squat down, flashlight in hand, and tossed the column of brightness into the man's face. "So, young man. What are you doing in an officer's unifor- eh?" His question trailed off as he lifted the end of his cap with a free hand. The man's face was so familiar…

Haruto's voice was suddenly caught in his throat. He stepped back with shock written all over his face. "Y-Yasuhara!"

The young, held down man was squinting from the bright light in his eyes, but looked towards Haruto nonetheless. Yasuhara greeted his father, and smiled.

...

"Madoka, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Keep your eyes on the screen at all times." The miko pressed the headphones on the sides and heard them click with a sharp tap. "John…do you hear me?"

A low shaking and dull tap came, and then sound reached her ears. _'H-hai. We've entered the library and are headed towards the second story.' _There was a light pause before, '_I think someone is approaching…'_

"John?" Ayako called out in earnest. A man was speaking and weither it was Naru or Lin she could not tell. There was the drumming of footsteps, then all that was returned was the sound of static and disconnection. The miko met eyes with Masako. "What do we do..."

All they could do was watch the cameras positioned within the library. "Like John-san said," Masako whispered, motioning Ayako over. "They are jogging to the bottom of the stairway -"

She gasped. Ayako stopped in her steps. The figure of a person was waiting for them at the base of the stairs. Who they saw appear before Lin, Naru, Mai, John and Takigawa, was the last person they'd expected to see.

It was the person everyone had assumed dead.

* * *

**To be continued…**

* * *

I actually have no idea what Yasuhara's father does so… :P


	9. Chapter 9 Corrupted Friendship

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

Previously:

"_John?" Ayako called out in earnest. All that was returned was the sound of static and disconnection, and all they could do was watch the cameras positioned within the library. Who they saw appear before Lin, Naru, Mai, John and Takigawa, was the last person they'd expected to see._

_She should have been dead. _

:Whispering Pages:  
Chapter 9: Corrupted Friendship

It was nearing 1 in the morning when a light drizzle began to fall. Rain clouds brought in rumbling thunder and cool mist. Like a morning shower, it brought a fresh new morning and pitch black sky. It fell and landed on the buildings, soaking them clean.

Within the library of the Suzuki Academy, rays of light were lit.

Naru, with a flashlight in his hand and Lin by his side, was making his way carefully through the shelves and books of the first floor of the library. The sound of rain surrounded them in heavy blows. Their footsteps were padded and lost.

Takigawa and Mai were following close behind, with John trailing at the end while trying to keep in contact with Ayako and Masako. Perhaps it was because of the upcoming storm that the periods of static were growing closer and closer.

"John." Mai called out, turning to check up on him. When she saw his struggling form, she stopped and tried to keep from laughing. "What are you doing?"

"Ah -" John was turning this way and that, holding up the headset higher into the air while desperately trying to keep it within hearing distance. He faced Mai with a shake of his head. "We're loosing signal, Taniyama-san."

"_John," _He heard Ayako call out before there was a long static phase. And then silence. Naru had heard them and now was watching the useless headset dangling from John's hands. He motioned with his flashlight and said, "It can't be helped. We'll continue on."

"Okay."

Mai could only see a limited distance around herself. Naru and Takigawa's flashlights, along with the occasional flashes of lightning, brightened their way on. Mai felt the monk's reassuring hand on top of her head, but she could feel the light shaking from him. She nodded back in reply. The notebook she had brought along from intuition seemed to tremble in her arms, as if knowing of what was to come.

With the next strike of light in the sky, a figure appeared at the base of the stairs.

They almost missed her. Long matted hair framed the sides of a sickly pale face. Her eyes were wide with surprise and fear. They had no time to react as the figure shimmered in and out of focus, an illusion from their tired minds. There was a pause of uncertainty before Naru narrowed his eyes and spoke out.

"You are…"

The figure blinked and her lips parted in a silent, eerie scream.

The library room reverberated with thunder, and the prying eyes vanished.

...

"Why the hell did you do something like this?" Haruto demanded loudly. The officer was alone in the room with his son, the young man still in cuffs and his glasses missing. Yasuhara wasn't talking, _hadn't _after he'd been picked up and walked to the refuge of a dorm room.

The two of them were soaked, but that was the least of their worries. Yasuhara calmly groaned and wished that he could rub the cut on his nose. He was starting to miss the weight of his glasses. Outlines of objects were blurry without them. However, he could tell, with glasses or not, that his father was extremely upset and fuming.

Haruto ran a thin hand across his short hair and turned away. The rain outside was really starting to pour down. He let out a breath with his gaze up at the ceiling and nodded a couple of times, as if coming to a conclusion.

"If you refuse to talk, the station will have no choice but to arrest you under the fact that you may have been related to the murder."

That got the young's man attention. Yasuhara stared at his father and blinked. "But if there's no evidence - "

"You could have been an accomplice for all we know." Haruto paused before adding, "_They _know." He circled around a short table, away from the window, and sat at the edge of the bed. He leaned forward as if he were speaking to a child. "I'm positive that you didn't have anything to do with this. Your sense of justice is larger than mine."

Yasuhara smiled at that and shrugged in his seat. The water around the cuffs were starting to chaff at his skin. "I guess so."

He looked into his son's dark eyes and said sternly: "I don't think I'd be able to allow the others to arrest you, Yasuhara."

"Thank goodness-"

"But you're going to have to tell me everything." His eyes held no room for argument.

Yasuhara fell silent again, though this time his head was tilted, as if contemplating.

"Well?" Haruto took a hard finger and pushed Yasuhara in his chest with enough force to make him sway in his seat. "Don't think I'll let you outright ignore me like that."

His son sighed for the third time as he squinted. "I told you already, father. I was acting as a decoy…and just to let you know, I got caught on purpose."

Haruto frowned. "For what?" He asked, ignoring the last part. "Why would you do such a thing?"

With his eyes closed, Yasuhara formed one word in his mind. Well, three: SPR. _Forgive me, Shibuya-san. I don__'t think I have much of a choice this time. _

With his father watching intently, the young man opened his eyes, and began to talk.

...

Nothing.

Naru's flashlight had reached the spot where the figure been standing seconds ago, but before his ray of brightness could reach her, she'd vanished. Everyone was breathing deeply, yet the sounds of pounding hearts couldn't be blocked.

"W-what was that?" Takigawa asked with an angry tone to block out his fear. "_Who _was it?"

There was a name that was floating in the back of everyone's minds. However, no one could answer him.

Mai was sure the figure had been there. She'd looked straight at her…The same girl she'd seen their first night there. Mai gasped and swallowed hard.

"S-should we go on?" John's voice was barely heard. The priest looked behind him into the darkness and shuddered lightly.

Naru thought they should, but Mai was with them. He didn't know why he'd given into her whines and pleas of letting her come with them. If the murderer was truly here -

"Oi, Naru." Takigawa called out. His eyes were on Mai. "We shouldn't be doing something stupid like this, it's unlike you."

Thunder rumbled, a drumming across the sky. Naru remained motionless. Indeed it was unlike him, but…

Lin was watching the young man, understanding how torn he must be feeling. However, Naru held no expression on his face. He only looked back with hard eyes and repeated. "Let's continue." He had a stubborn streak as well.

But as their feet began to move again, Mai felt another presence in the room.

It had been subtle at first, making her believe that it had been her imagination. But now, obviously someone, _something _was there. With them, hiding.

"Mai, what's wrong?"

She didn't register his words. Instead she started to frantically spin in place, continuously looking behind her shoulder with fear. The suspense was making her heart beat furiously against her chest. "Bou-san, someone else it here." Her voice was a whisper.

Takigawa narrowed his eyes and also glanced to his side, suspiciously into the darkness. Every shelf was now a possible hiding spot, a patch of shadow their weak point.

"Did you see someone?"

She shook her head. "No, but I know…"

Mai saw the tense form of Lin and watched him momentarily. She flinched when he yelled out, "Naru! Don't go any further!'

Lin waited with his dark eyes alert. Did he see something she didn't?

Maybe it was her imagination, but the library now felt hostile, cold—

A movement to her left caught her eye. She saw the librarian's desk, and upon it, a framed picture. Reflected in the polished glass was a pair of brown eyes, set with a mutinous expression. She looked across the room—only to be met with empty wall. She looked back. The eyes were gone.

"L-Lin-san…"

He could sense the coldness growing and with worry faced his back to her. Suddenly a book from the shelf behind them rattled in its position, struggling to burst out. It flew out, its pages fluttering dangerously.

"John!"

The priest barely ducked in time as a heavy volume rushed pass his head. More came, flying aimed with precarious force and dangerous aim.

Mai felt a cut on her cheek, and cried out at the stinging sensation.

"Nan-maku-san-manda, Bazara-dan-kan!"

Within seconds, the chaos of flying pages and books died down. However, before anyone could let out a sigh of relief, chairs and tables began to rattle with life. The monk cried out and ducked as a wooden leg ripped off and sped towards him.

"Damn! We need to get out of here!"

The next chair went flying straight towards Naru.

...

"…so, are you going to say anything?"

Haruto only gave a long sigh in response. He stood, felt the urge to, and walked back to the window with long, heavy steps. What could he say to the situation everyone was in? Haruto turned back to his son with a questioning look. "If what you've told me about this case is true - if something is going on in that library, we should go there as back up."

Yasuhara frowned, trying to read the old man's thoughtful eyes. "So you're going to go there after all."

"What other choice do I have?" Haruto demanded, becoming angry for the first time that night. He clenched his fist and threw a hand to one side. "Don't you think it was rather stupid not to come to us for help? What good would it do for some _psychics _to go after a murderer on their own? Someone else might loose their life tonight!"

"But _you _didn't listen! Shibuya-san said something strange was going on, but you didn't think any of it mattered with the murder, did you?" Yasuhara was yelling back, standing despite being cuffed. Not because something had stirred his emotions, but because of a sudden will to defend the SPR. Haruto was momentarily silenced with shock.

Yasuhara immediately calmed and tried to show it on his face. "Father, Shibuya-san knows -"

A sudden beeping followed by a period of static cut the young man off. There was a voice trying to reach them through the radio on Haruto's belt. The voice broke a couple of times but then: "_Haruto-san? This is Hanata. We've located two women who were hiding in the lobby. They seem to be the same two of three women...near the library earlier...we checked the room where we'd...everyone gone..."_

Yasuhara's eyes widened.

Haruto saw his son's reaction and sagged his shoulders with understanding. He pressed the button on the side of the radio and replied with a tired voice. "It's all right, they aren't a threat in anyway. Wait until I come down there."

"_Yes sir."_

Yasuhara flinched when he felt his father's hand on his shoulder. The young man looked up, squinting to see against the room light. Haruto put a hand into his pocket to retrieve a key and turned his son around. With a twist, the cuffs were off and Yasuhara was rubbing his chaffed wrists with a sigh.

"Couldn't you have done that earlier?"

Haruto grunted as he made his way to the door. "A man shouldn't complain of such trivial things. Hurry up, you're coming with me. And don't fall down the stairs."

With the pretend look of a scolded child, Yasuhara followed his father. He shouted out another whine after him. "Can you get me some glasses at least?"

When the two men had reached the lobby, the first thing their eyes fell upon was the angered form of Ayako. The men around her looked defeated and turned to Haruto for help. He'd told them she was on their side, but Ayako's attitude was starting to make them suspicious. When Yasuhara looked to see Masako's condition, the medium was merely seated with her hands in her lap, looking annoyed at all the commotion.

Yasuhara reached forward, grabbing at Ayako's shoulder. "Please calm down, Matsuzaki-san. Behaving in this sort of manner isn't attractive. It'll lower your chances in the future!"

No one else understood how this would calm the woman.

Ayako's voice immediately dropped and she turned with an angry blush. It took her a moment to collect herself. "Y-Yasuhara! You could have arrived sooner you know."

"We would have probably would have been put in cuffs otherwise." Masako turned her face and spoke out of the corner of her mouth, however not trying the least bit to lower her voice.

"Oh be quiet!" Ayako crossed her arms with a stance of self-defense. She brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. "It's thanks to me that we haven't been arrested."

Haruto coughed into a fist to draw attention. Ayako blinked at him and turned to Yasuhara. He seemed to be the only one she would trust at the moment. "Who're they?"

"Ah!" Yasuhara sheepishly grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. He gestured to Haruto and Ayako. "This is Ayako Matsuzaki. She works for Shibuya-san on certain cases. That is Hara Masako, but you know her from the shows."

Masako nodded. "Hello."

Yasuhara pointed with a thumb. "This is my father. Osamu Haruto."

"…Your father?"

Masako sat up in her seat, surprised as well. She slightly frowned. "We put you in a bad situation asking for your help."

"No no, it was rather fun."

Haruto smacked the back of his sons head and turned to the still wide-eyed miko. "But Matsuzaki-san, what were the two of you doing here? I thought that Shibuya-san snuck all of you to the library."

Ayako shook her head, straightening her posture with sudden shyness. She'd behaved rather rashly in front of Yasuhara's father, after all. "Well, the two of us decided to keep in contact with them and the others -"

"So…Taniyama-san followed them?" Yasuhara asked, interjecting.

Ayako nodded, crossing her arms. "She can be pretty stubborn like that. Despite how dangerous it could get, Mai insisted…"

Haruto stood listening and observing, realizing how dangerous the situation could turn out to be. Seeing that their conversation was straying, he coughed and intervened. "So what exactly were you doing here?"

"Ah." Ayako pointed to the desks at the back of the room. Haruto saw several screens, a couple of them on and showing some part of the campus, he assumed. He listened as she explained.

"We decided to watch them from here and report back. But…"

"But?"

"Our connection with them was broken. And that's when you guys burst in on us, before we could try to reconnect with them."

Haruto made eye-contact with his son, and walked towards the playing screens. He had the feeling that he knew where the cameras had been located. He took one glance towards the screen and sucked in a breath.

He had been right. It was the library, and he saw Shibuya with several others standing alert and seemingly frightened. But there was something else that caught his eye.

There was a girl seated at the base of the stairs, watching with her hands raised and moving like a puppetmaster.

The others didn't seem to have noticed. He saw his son's intent stare on the screen, and their previous conversation came back to mind.

Haruto began to consider the possibility that the girl wasn't actually there. Perhaps she was only visible through the screen, a spiritual embodiment.

...

"N-Naru?"

When he sat up groaning, the first thing that came in sight was her wide, worried eyes. There was a cut on her cheek, a bruise on her arm…

When he turned his face, a hand held up to his forehead, Lin took hold of his arm.

"Are you okay Naru?"

Naru groaned as he sat up, clearing his head with his eyes shut. "What happened? How long was I out?" He stood, ignoring Mai's advice not to.

Takigawa came into view, picking up the dropped flashlight. "You were just knocked down by a flying chair." There was something bitter about his tone.

Opened books with ripped pages were littered around them. Takigawa's chants had worked, for the time being. John was frowning. The attacks had stopped, but he too now felt the presence of a person nearby. When he voiced out his thoughts in a whisper, it wasn't a large surprise to see them nod back grimly.

Naru had already recovered and was eying the stairs in front of him. It was spontaneous, but Naru was speechless as his breath got caught in his throat. He raised a finger and pointed upwards. They all followed the gesture. Five pair of eyes landed on a figure, a woman.

Tanaka Haru, presumed dead, smiled a crooked smile. She raised her shoulders in a mock introduction, raised an arm with formidable eyes staring right at them, and cocked a gun.

...

Haruto pushed away from the desk, sending tapes falling off the desk from the impact. "A woman is in the library with a gun! Call back-up now! Men, station yourselves in your previous formation around the building. Yasuhara, stay here with Matsuzaki and Hara-san."

"Yes sir!"

They ran out into the storm in a frenzy of feet and shouting.

...

Mai stood frozen in her place. Dread was choking her_, such a twist of fate_…

Tanaka Haru let out a laugh, as if the shock and reaction of the people below her was some sick joke. It was eerie to hear how carefree her voice sounded, laughing until her breath ran out. The gun waved dangerously in front of her, the threat keeping them constantly alert.

"You thought I was dead."

It wasn't a question. No one said anything. Naru motioned with a flick of his fingers towards Takigawa. The monk immediately inched over so that he stood in front of Mai, protecting her.

Haru sighed and laughed again. Her pale face looked moments away from death, her narrow eyes looking down at them with tired annoyance. "I don't know how you found out about our base, but thanks to your meddling, I'll have to silence you all now."

Lightning sounded and as the bright flash dimmed away, Haru took a step down. She couldn't seem to get enough of their emitting fear. The tension around them was stifling with murderous intent. Haru continued speaking.

"That librarian came close to revealing everything you know. While she was being interviewed by you people, I'm sure it was difficult for her to make up such lies while keeping a straight face."

Lin and Naru were keeping intent watch on the woman as Mai, Takigawa and John let confusion don their faces. '_That librarian?'_

Haru took another step down, and another. It became synchronized with the beating of a heart until she was one step away from the bottom - from where Sachiko's death had occurred. Her auburn eyes were locked at that area of the carpet, hypnotized and lightly shaking. "I'd just wanted to keep Sachiko safe."

Mai flinched as a distant memory of a young face flashed in her mind. The librarian, it couldn't be!

"Saito…Michiko?" She whispered, horrified. "She was who Naru had found in the basement?"

Haru's grin only widened, her eyebrows raising. She ignored the girl's questioning statement. "You have it don't you?"

"E-eh?"

Haru scowled and yelled with impatience. "The diary! Sachiko's notebook! I tried burning it, shredding it, hiding it away...it wouldn't leave me alone. So I finally sold it to a small pawn shop. But that damn thing still managed to find me."

Everyone's eyes fell to the young girl's arms where the said item was being held. It looked as if it was full life. Mai didn't know what to do until a sharp order reached her ears.

"Toss it here!"

Mai's arms wouldn't move. Couldn't. When Haru gritted her teeth, Takigawa quickly ripped the notebook from Mai and threw it away from them. The book landed awkwardly on its spine and spread open, its insides showing.

The gun pointed at the vulnerable, open pages as if it were a dangerous item. "This thing started it all again. Just when I'd thought that everyone had been done with."

"You…" Mai was whispering lightly. She'd never been so angry. "You killed your friends?"

"Mai!" Naru yelled, but she wasn't listening.

"Your best friend?" Mai's eye-sight became blurred with tears. "Shouji-kun and Sara-san as well…"

The gun sounded loudly as it was raised to shoulder height. A look of pure hatred and fury emerged into a teeth-gritting growl. "Shut your mouth!" As if she'd been out running in the storm, her breathing was labored and harsh. "You don't know anything! I -"

Haru was abruptly cut off with the sound of flapping wings. The pale, unwritten pages of the notebook were flipping through one by one in a rush. Back and forth until it stopped in the month of June.

They all stood captivated.

Ink expelled from the pages from long ago written passages. They swarmed about the page, positioning themselves until crooked words were formed. There the letters waited with shaking force until gravity won, and the ink splattered down, ruining the message - an eerie piece from Sachiko's entries.

_And we all fall down…_

There was the horrifying sound of an uttered moan. It was breathless, yet everyone could hear it clearly, and the sound sent Haru in a state of panic. "Forgive me!"

The gun was dropped and fired. Sudden arms sprouted from the ground. Mai screamed and stepped back into the chest of John. Takigawa prepared himself in case a mantra was needed, but Haru was running back up, up to the top of the stairs. Away from the grasping white hands. But she was too slow. Pale fingers tickled her ankle, knocking her down in a trembling mess. Her hair was matted around her face. Wind seemed to be blowing from no where. The sound of Lin's whistle blew, but just as quickly as it had emitted, the man was knocked down with great force.

The pages of the notebook at the base of the stairs were turning and ripping themselves with ferocity, as if the edges of the pages had turned to claws and were in desperation to reach its own destruction. Flames grew.

Haru was chocking. Mai yelled, but it was too late. The arms had snaked their way up to Haru's upper body, pale large eyes appearing beside her in an embrace. Just as Haru had held Sachiko years ago. A transparent finger stroked her cheek.

"S-Sachi-"

The arms tightened with sickening force. Bones were broken and in that instant, Mai felt sick and turned around. There was the sound of a falling body, the limbs lagging behind with surprise at their sudden restricted movement. Haru landed with her neck askew, her eyes wide with shock, her lips in a soundless whisper for help. A hand was outstretched towards Naru, but she was gone. Dark hair fell across her face. A held breath was let out in the room.

The pages of the notebook were no longer the pale white and black lines Mai could recognize. They were burning and fluttering into nothing, black red orange yellow until all the changing colors were gone. Soon the flames died down to reveal nothing more than empty ashen bindings.

Crumpled, burnt and abandoned next to Haru's outstretched hands.

A strange, overwhelming corpse.

* * *

To Be Concluded in The Last Chapter


	10. Chapter 10 Divulgence

AN: I'm going and fixing spelling errors and stuff, so I'm sorry to disturb you if an alert thingy was sent to your emal :(

Last chapter, please enjoy!  
P.S. It's snowing in Washington :D On the first day of December too.

Whispering Pages  
Chapter 10: Divulgence

**Taniyama Mai**

I was pushed to the side by a passing by figure. I was forcefully removed from my spot, eyes torn away from the ones of the dead woman. The alarms were blaring and I saw Bou-san being half-carried away. The stray bullet had hit his arm, but thankfully without serious injuries.

Lin, Naru and John were escorted out as well, meeting up with Ayako and Masako. The medium teased me with her monotone way for looking so frightened, but I was too tired and stricken to reply. The rest of the early morning passed by as a blur and we all spent the next day answering questions.

Finally let go, we returned to our homes for a couple of days for rest and sleep. Naru said that he would contact us a week later.

**June 19th Three Days Later**

Things haven't quieted down quite yet at Suzuki Academy.

By the time Haruto-san and his men had entered the library, the notebook had completely disintegrated into nothing, and Tanaka Haru had already passed away. She had been strangled, her neck broken, but with no signs of finger prints or bruises on her. It was left as a freak accident of a sort, saying that she'd fallen off and landed at the base of the stars the wrong way.

That made it the third death that had occurred on those stairs.

With the autopsy on the corpse we'd found hidden inside the basement, it had turned out to be the librarian I'd met the first night at the academy, as well as the woman we'd interviewed our second day. Saito Michiko. Cause of death: brutal murder.

I've just awaken from a short nap, though I'm still feeling a bit groggy. As I was about to make myself some lunch, a knock came at the door and I opened it to reveal the old face of the landlord.

"Keiichi-san." I'd said surprised. "What is it?"

"Ah, a call came from your work place again. Your boss would like you to come by on the 23rd at 2:00. He wants to discuss something about the… 'last case' or something."

I nodded and smiled an understanding. "Okay. Thank you for informing me."

The day went by fairly normally, but that night I had a dream. I had fallen asleep thinking about the case and of different scenarios with the people involved.

I was standing in a dark area for a while. The smells and atmosphere all seemed too familiar until the sound of thunder followed by lightening gave me the answer. The library. I was walking away from someone who was extremely angry. I looked back, and the figure's eyes were obscured but their mouth was moving. Their arms were animated and pointing towards me. I felt as if I was shrinking away.

Unintentionally, my feet picked up the pace. I was at the top of the stairs, stepping down when I turned back again. My heartbeat rushed to a frighteningly fast pace when I saw the figure rushing at me. Their footsteps quickened and thumped upon the carpet, moving like a spider.

Hands reached at me, I screamed and my mouth was covered. Lights came from an angle, and I saw her face. I froze when my whole body was lurching backwards. I reached back but nothing but air was there to support me.

Then I jolted awake.

I couldn't wait for those 4 days to pass. I'd meet up with everyone again, and finally learn the facts of the Suzuki Academy case.

...

When the day arrived, everyone had gathered in Naru's office with ten minutes to spare. For the first time in days, I made tea for everyone, and sat back to listen to Naru. He'd hardly rested after returning to the office; it was clear in his eyes.

Besides catching up with missed school work, I'd been also busy finishing up the final draft of Sachiko's diary entries. Strangely, the words had become as clear as glass in my mind after a night of sleep. The next afternoon, I'd been able to write everything down and with Lin-san's laptop had typed it all out.

I had given the printed out final to Naru yesterday, and sure enough I saw the stack of neat papers near his. It had been passed around for everyone to read.

Yasuhara was with us as well, with some surprising information from his father to share. With thought and with realistic reasoning, our conclusion was made. I knew that most of the emotions and such were our speculation, but the tangled strings began to untie.

It had all started years ago when Neya Sachiko and Tanaka Haru had decided to attend Suzuki Academy. The incident with her parents had brought Sachiko into deep depression. Her friend tried to comfort her, always retreating into the same corner at the library. One day, (with this backed-up by Haru's old friends), Sara had transferred to Suzuki Academy, becoming quick friends with Sachiko.

Sara had been half Japanese and half American, who'd moved to Japan three years prior.

That had been when the feelings of jealously had started to rise. Sachiko had by no means tried to hint that Sara was the better friend, but the secrets kept from her and less time spent with her all looked like the beginnings of betrayal and neglect to Haru. Sara became an enemy that had barged in.

And to add another horror to Haru's growing problems, Sachiko fell in love with Sato Shouji . His real name had been Arakawa Shouji, and Haru had learned about it weeks after he'd transferred. It had been a dangerous thing for him to get too involved with Sachiko, and we were shocked to learn of his true connections with her. His father had been the murderer of her family.

Apparently, he'd known everything but had wanted to make amends, though not really planned to fall in love. Haru confronted Shouji about it and blackmailed him to the point where he could no longer live with the facts. He killed himself months later by jumping off the top of the library roof, right in front of Haru.

She was devastated that the suicide had occurred, but something about the absence of Shouji had pleased her. Sachiko would get over it, she'd told herself. Now the only obstacle was the wretched Sara.

And so the psychological tortures began. There were horrid rumors and whispering. Haru secretly taunted and harassed Sara, but acted kind to her in front of others. It went on for weeks and months. Haru thought she was winning. However, the truth about Shouji's father was revealed to two other people.

Sara and the librarian, Saito-san.

_"…or else you won't be allowed to continue your studies," Haru had whispered. "You know what you should do, right?"  
Sara had had this strange look on her face – guilt?  
Haru had taken a grip on Sara's upper arm and with a look of impatience had said, "Do it soon, or else you'll loose everything."  
Sara had nodded and I'd left by then, more confused as ever. But I'd known and am positive now that the 'she' they'd been talking about had been me. What truth?_

The day Sachiko had heard Haru talking to Sara could have explained everything had Sachiko stayed to listen longer. Haru pretended to be ignorant when Sara had told her about Shouji. Then Haru threatened Sara with a certain matter. (We could not figure out what) But whatever it had been, Sara had to break her ties with Sachiko and do so quickly.

Sachiko had given Sara a beautiful music box as a birthday present - we'd been able to look it at her mother's home. It was shaped in a small sphere with an eerie and haunting melody. The designs were beautiful and intricately etched. There was a deep scratch on the bottom part when Sara had been hit by a car and dropped it. The vision Masako and I had seen.

According to her mother, Sara had been planning to give it back to Sachiko. We weren't able figure out who'd been driving the car that had hit Sara, or why she had been planning to give the music box back. Again we knew that Haru had been behind it all, but her intentions had been difficult to interpret. But one thing was clear, that her want for Sachiko had grown to obsession.

The night Sachiko died, according to the dream I'd had days ago, it had been Haru who'd accidentally pushed her down the stairs.

The librarian had been the only one who'd been in the library at the time, and had seen the incident occur. It'd been reported to the police that it had been an accident, that Sachiko had slipped.

But years later Saito Michiko started wondering. Had it been murder? She and Haru met again when we'd called them for their interviews. Something happened. Perhaps Haru had felt threatened. The result was a struggle leading to a premeditated, violent murder.

I guess this is all that we are going to get for the conclusion. The whole story makes me tremble and yet has me sympathizing. Things had turned out too twisted for the sake of 'friendships' and want of attention. I'm sure Haru regretted everything. She'd apologized at the very end.

The most frightening thing is, that anyone could turn out to be in a situation like Haru had been in. I could be just like her.

...

"Geez, Mai. Now you decide to come to school?"

I pushed back the stand for the rice balls and squatted down so that I could adjust the tape on the sign. "Hey, I'm still gonna have to take the test. Wanna pass me that piece of paper?"

Michiru laughed. "But you sure have good timing - finishing the case just after our final exams."

They didn't know the details, didn't know how much more stressful the case had been than anything I'd ever done. It was fine like that, I thought, but I wished they could cut me some slack. After a moment of thinking I laughed. "But if I'd been here to take the exams, we wouldn't have won the opportunity to organize the festival. My scores would have brought everyone else's _down_."

"Hmm true. Your low grade would have made it impossible to win." Keiko smiled to show she was kidding. She made sure the banter above was straight. "You showed up to help with the preparations for the festival, so all is forgiven."

Michiru laughed. "You're too forgiving."

The festival was fun and eventful, almost enough to distract my mind for the afternoon. It was the last day as a senior and as a high school student so Keiko, Michiru and I went to every booth, ate until our stomachs were bursting and helped with the clean up until the sky was a dark red.

After this day the next would come, and I would have to confront something with the SPR members. Even though it may change everything, I'm hopeful that my 'family' can stay together. With that comforting thought in mind, I leaned against the school's outer gates and looked up into the night sky - filled with images of the past and nostalgia.

**The End**

* * *

My first finished fic! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing thus far. Hopefully you'll leave some words on this last chapter.  
Anyway, a 'sequel' to this story will be up on or after New Years Day.  
Title: The **Autumn Room**. At the moment, I only have two chapters finished. -sigh-  
But I'll put up the prologue so that I can hear your guy's input. Please review! Bye for now  
Sayurijen


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